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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



. . -, k — an; 

body can see that it was never rnamifa< 

tured, but grew It seems i 

me to be at once thorough and inspiring 
full of the spirit of the best kind of teaching 
It contains more of the ideal element, moi 
of real enthusiasm, than any similar book 
have ever seen." 

Prof. E. H. Russell, Principal State Normr 
School at Worcester, Mass., in a notice of th 
author's ss Elementary Language-Book ii 
Graded Lessons; or, Learning to Mak( 
English." 



-V4 



/U>< 






" Seems to me to be exceedingly well 
prepared and likely to be of great service 
to many teachers of elementary English 
grammar." 

Col. Homer B. Sprague, Head Master Girls' High 
School, Boston, Mass. , in a notice of the author's 
"Elementary Language-Book in Graded 
Lessons; or, Learning to Make Eng- 
lish. 9 ' 






" Refreshing common sense and the re- 
sults of long experience in teaching are 
characteristics of this manual." 

From the New-England Homestead, in a notic< 
of the author's cs Elementary Language- 
Book in Graded Lessons; or, Learning 
to Make English." 



. 



ELEfENTARY LANGUAGE-BOOK. 

Elementary Language-Book, in Graded 
Lessons; or, Learning to Make English. 
John Lockwood, Publisher, New York. 
12mo, 196 pages: cloth, 50c. 

Prominent features : 1st. The pupil is set to 
work at once making English, and so ' ' learns to do 
by doing. " 2nd. The rule or definition is first un- 
folded by a simple exposition and illustrated by 
numerous examples constructed by the pupil. 3rd. 
The objective of every lesson is a written exercise, 
to which the explanatory remarks are intended 
merely to lead up. 4th. Specially prepared oral 
exercises, following all written exercises. 5th. 
Every lesson of proper length for a day's work. 
6th. Keview lessons, enabling the class to run 
through a chapter or the entire book a second time 
with despatch. 7th. In addition to these review 
lessons, every chapter closes with a summary, a 
drill-quiz, a set of questions for a written examina- 
tion, and a topical brief — the last-named affording 
the pupil practice in the art of sustained speech. 
Fbom Rev. George F. Seymour, D. D. , Bishop of 
Springfield. 

* ' I have examined, with such care and attention 
as the exacting duties of my office would permit me 



2 Elementary Language-Book. 

to bestow, a little book by Mr. John Lockwood 
the principles of English Grammar. ¥he des 
of the author is to smooth the way for childrei 
acquiring a knowledge of the elements and strud 
of their mother tongue. I am satisfied that ! 
Lockwood has done a great deal towards help 
the young over difficulties, and has succeeded 
imparting interest to the dry subject which he 
taken in hand. " 

From. Prof. E. H. Russell, Principal S? 
Normal School at Worcester, Mass. 

' ' There is great life in this book — anybody 
see that it was never manufactured, but grew ; 
I believe that it would impart some of its vitalit 
any teacher who should use it. It seems to m 
be at once thorough and inspiring, full of the s 
of the best kind of teaching. It contains moi 
the ideal element, more of real enthusiasm, 
any similar book I have ever seen. If I had a ■ 
of children to teach in the rudiments of langn 
I should certainly use your book in preferen< 
any other that I know." 

From Charles Pratt, Esq., President or 
Board of Trustees oe the Adelphi Acad 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

' ' I like it very much so far as I have exarc 
it." 



■ Elementary Language-Book. 3 

Feom Rev. Alfeed C. Roe, Peincipal of Pbos- 
pect Paek Collegiate School foe Young 
Ladies, Beooklyn, N. Y. 

' 'Anything from your pen would command care- 
ful attention. I am much pleased with it, and shall 
introduce it with our primary class next Fall. " 

Feom Miss A. B. Moegan, Co-Peincipal of the 
Deaeboen-Moegan School, Oeange, N. J. 

" I am much pleased with the few glances I have 
been able to give your book ; it seems very simple 
and practical." 

Feom the New England Homestead: 

"Elementary Language-Book, " ete., attempts 
to correct this wrong method of teaching by 
beginning with the child and letting him learn 
how to use language by simple, plain and direct 
lessons in putting his thoughts into correct Eng- 
lish. Refreshing common sense and the results 
of long experience in teaching are characteristics of 
this manual that will commend it to all teachers. " 

Feom the Wateebuey (Conn.) Daily Republican: 

" This little book is just what might be expected 
to come from one whose whole life has been devoted 
to teaching, and to determining the best methods of 



4 Elementary Language-Book. 

developing the child-mind The aim 

of Prof. Lockwood's teaching has been to simplify 
study, to lead the child to reason rather than to in- 
duce it to burden the mind with a multitude of 
things whose tendency is to confuse as well as to 

make study irksome We consider the 

book of so much importance that we cannot refrain 
from encroaching upon editorial space in order to 

give a few examples of its method 

The work is a valuable contribution to text-book 
literature. 

From the New York Home-Journal : 

Mr. John Lockwood, the author of this little work, 
is the principal of a well-known Brooklyn school, and 
has won a high reputation as an educator by his 
successful efforts to organize methods of instruction 
based upon the later philosophy of education. The 
cardinal principle of the new method is that the 
study of things should precede the study of ab- 
stractions, that the faculties of observation and 
comparison should be first brought into play and 
the pupil led to generalize for himself the formulae 
and rules of special kinds of knowledge, following 
in this the natural order of mental development. 
In the present work, which is the slowly matured 
fruit of many years of practice in teaching, the 
Continued on page 86. 



AN 

AID-BOOK 

IN 

ELEMENTARY 

English Grammar, 

FOB THE BENEFIT OF 

TEACHERS IN GIVING ORAL INSTRUCTION, 

AND OF 

PUPILS, WHETHER USING A REGULAR TEXT-BOOK 

OR NOT, WHO FIND GRAMMAR HARD AND DRY. 

2>V r* 



A 4 A 

BY THE AUTHOR OP 

! 'AN ELEMENTARY LANGUAGE-BOOK INVADED. 

LESSONS; OR, LEARNING TO MAKE 

ENGLISH." 






COPYRIGHT. 1885, BY 

JOHN LOCKWOOD, PUBLISHER, 
NEW YORK. 






w 



PREFACE. 



This little book is not intended to be a text-book 
at all, but only an aid-book in the child's hand to 
help him understand some of the obscure inductions 
of his regular text-book, or in the teacher's hand to 
guide her in methods of procedure, and enable her 
to make her instruction — especially if it be oral — 
more attractive, and therefore more effective. It is 
not properly a Language-Book, but only a side-light 
to Language-Books already in t^ie field. It is a sim- 
ple exposition of the most essential elements of 
English Grammar, as well as an attempt to point 
out the true method of teaching or acquiring it. 

The work is altogether elementary, being made 
up almost entirely of the expository portions of the 
author's "Elementary Language-Book, in Graded 
Lessons ; or, Learning to Make English. " It is in 
the form of familiar talks addressed to the pupil. 

If in either the teacher's or the child's hand it 
shall serve to smooth the rugged path of English 
Grammar, its purpose will be accomplished. 



Lain & Robertson, Book and Job Printers, 
17 Willoughby St., Brooklyn, N.Y. 



CQ 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION . 
Section. rage. 

1. The Term "L an gu ago,' 7 - - - - 1 

2. Words and Letters, ----.- 1 

3. Sounds of the Letters, .... 2 

4. Vowels and Consonants, - - - - 3 

5. Some Vowel-Sounds, ..... 5 
G. Mental Pictures, or Ideas, - - - C 

7. "Words Represent Ideas, ----- 9 

8. Syllables, - 11 

9. Various Sorts of Words, ----- 12 

CHAPTER II. 

THE SENTENCE. 

1. Statements, ------- 13 

2. The Phrase, 15 

3. Subject and Predicate, - - - - - 16 

4. The Bare Sentence, 18 

5. Adjuncts, - - - - - - - 21 

6. Summary of the Preceding Remarks, 21 

7. Bare Sentences Enlarged, - - - - - 22 

8. Building up Sentences Step by Step, 23 



IV. CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 
THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 

Section. Page. 

1. Names, or Nouns, - - - - - 24 

2. Particular Names, - - - - - * - 25 

3. TheYerb, - - - - - - 25 

4. The Pronoun, 26 

5. Examples for Practice, - - - - - 28 

6. The Adjective, 29 

7. The Article, 30 

8. The Adverb, 30 

9. The Preposition, 32 

10. The Conjunction, 36 

11. The Interjection, 37 

12. Classified according to Their Use, 38 

13. A Bird's-Eye View, 40 

14. Condensed Summary, ----- 41 

CHAPTER IY. 
SOME SUB-CLASSES OE WOBDS. 

1. Nouns: Common and Proper, - 

2. Surnames, - - - - - 

3. Christian Names, - 

4. Days of the Week, etc., - 

5. A Practice-Exercise, - 

6. TheYerb, 

7- Transitive and Intransitive Yerbs, 

8. How to Tell Them Apart, - 

9. A Practice-Exercise, ----- 



CONTENTS. V. 

Section. Page. 

10. Verbs with a Hard Name, 51 

11. Some Curious Verbs, - - - - - -52 

12. Adjectives : The Articles, 53 

13. The Indefinite Articles, - - - - - 54 

14. Origin of the Word " A," - - - 56 

15. The Definite Article, 57 

16. Proper Adjectives, ------ 57 

17-19. A Bird's-Eye View, 58 

CHAPTER V. 
ABBEEVIATIONS AND PUNCTUATION. 

1. Abbreviations, ------ 61 

2. How to Abbreviate, - - - - - - 62 

3.' Punctuation, - - - . - 63 

4. The Comma : Words in a Series, - - - - 64 

5. The Comma : Spoken to by Name, 68 

6. A Practice-Exercise, - - - - - - 66 

CHAPTER VI. 

THE SIGN 'S ; OK, BELONGING TO. 

1. The Apostrophe and s, - - - 67 

2. " Of," or, " Belonging to," - - - - - 68 

3. Another Sign that Means, "Of," or, " Belonging to," 6S 

4. The Reason Why - 68 

CHAPTER VII. 

NUMBER. 

1. Singular and Plural, - - 70 

2. Puzzling Forms, - - - 71 



VI. CONTENTS, 

Section. Page. 

3. How the Plural of Nouns is Formed, 71 

4. Some Other Plurals, - - - - - -72 

5. Singular and Plural in Verbs, 73 

6. Verbs Change their Forms as Nouns do, - - 75 

7. Is, Are ; Has, Have ; Was, Were, - - - 76 

CHAPTER VIII. 
DEGBEES OF COMPARISON. 

1. The Three Degrees, - - - - - - 77 

2. Incorrect Use of the Superlative, 78 

3. "Er" and "Est,'' - - - - - - 73 

4. "More" and "Most," ----- 73 

5. Irregular Comparison, - - - - - 80 

6. Comparison of Adverbs, - - 81 

CHAPTER IX. 
LETTER-WRITING, QUOTATIONS, ETC. 

1. The Parts of a Letter, 81 

2. Quotations, ------- 84 

3. How to Divide Words , the Hyphen, - - - 84 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTION. 



1. The Term " Language." — If I wish to 
communicate my thoughts to you I must use some 
kind of language. If you are mute, that is, if you 
cannot hear nor speak, I must use some sign-lan- 
guage, as, for example, one that is made with the 
fingers. If you can read writing, I may write you a 
letter. Thisjs written language. If you can only 
read printing, then I must print what I have to say ; 
and this is also called written language. But the 
common way is by speaking, or, by the use of spoken 
language. If we both understand English, I may 
use the English language. If we both understand 
French, I may use the French language, and so on ; 
all people using their own mother-tongue, or what- 
ever other language they may have learned. Ac- 
cordingly we say that 

Language is the way we have of communicat- 
ing OUR THOUGHTS TO ONE ANOTHER. 

2. Words Letters. — There are thous- 



2 INTEODUCTION. 

ands of different languages in the world, used by 
thousands of different races, or tribes of men. All 
of thern are made by putting icords together ; and 
these words are composed, in all languages that we 
are much acquainted with, of letters* In the Eng- 
lish language a vast number of words are used, more 
than 100,000, but only 26 letters. These 26 letters, 
taken together in proper order, are called, as you all 
know, the alphabet. Some languages contain more, 
and some fewer than ours. 

Letters, whether printed, or made with pen or 
pencil, have two forms, capitals arid small letters.] 
The common style of letters made with the pen or 
pencil is called script. 

3. Sounds of the Letters.— Each one of the 
26 letters of our alphabet represents, or, stands for 
one or more sounds of the voice. Take the word 
ape, and pronounce the first sound of it — the sound 
that is represented by the letter a. Open the mouth 
wide and let the voice flow from the throat without 
interruption for a moment, thus : a - Then, 

* The Chinese language has no alphabet. 

t Strange as it may seem, "small letters" are sometimps 
very large— much larger than some " capitals. " Compare 
these two letters— a, a. The first, which is the larger, is 
what is called a "small letter;" the second is a "capital." 
The name, " small letters," is given to them because they 
are smaller than the capitals that are used along with them. 
Thus, in the word "America," the first letter is a "capital," 
and the rest are " small letters. " 



VOWELS AND CONSONANTS. 6 

closing the lips, finish the word with a little puff of 

the breath — a pe. Again, take the word ant, 

and treat it in the same way, thus : a nt. Again, 

take the word ark, and do likewise, thus : a rk. 

Again, take the word awl, and do the same, thus : 

a wl. * Here we have four different sounds, all 

represented by the same letter, a. These sounds all 
come up from the throat, and flow freely out of the 
mouth. Not all the alphabetic sounds are formed 
in that way. For example, take the word ape again. 
After prolonging the first sound for a moment, 

a , the lips are brought together and a simple 

ptiff of the breath is given to complete the word. 
That puff is represented by the letter p. It is 
nothing but the breath exploding at the lips. It does 
not come up out of the throat at all, as the sound of 
a does. 

4. Vowels and Consonants. — Five of the 
letters of our alphabet represent sounds that are 
formed somewhat as the sounds of a are formed ; 
and these we group together and call vowels. They 
are as follows : 

a, e 5 i, o, u. 

To these must be added w and y as they are sounded 
in some words, as cow, boy, etc. The remaining 19 
letters, together with w and y as they are sounded 

* A lias other sounds besides these four. 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

in other words, as west, yes, etc.. are called conso- 
nants. * 

Thus we see that the vowelsf may be called voice- 
letters, or throat letters, or letters whose sounds 
come up from the throat and flow freely out of the 
mouth ; while the consonants are something quite 
different. The letter p, as we have already seen in 
the word ape is nothing but the breath exploding at 
the lips, or a kind of breath -letter. Try the letter 
b as heard in bat. In uttering it we close the lips 
and make a smothered sound in the throat, so we 
say that b represents a smothered sound of the 
voice. 

If we should try all the other letters called ' * con- 
sonants, " we should find that none of them represent 
sounds that come up from the throat and flow freely 
out of the mouth, but sounds that are held back or 
interrupted or forced out. Therefore we say that 

Vowels are lettees which repeesent, or stand 
for sounds that come up from the throat and 
flow freely out of the mouth. 

Consonants are lettees which repeesent, de 
stand for sounds that are stopped or interrupt- 
ed or forced out. 

Vowel-sounds being formed wholly in the throat, 

* In awkward, for example, tlic first w is a vowel, while 
the second is a consonant. 
t Latin vox (vocis), the voice. 



SOME VOWEL-SOUNDS. O 

the vowels may be called throat-letters, or voice- 
letters. 

5. Some Votvel- Sounds.— We have just 
seen that a has several different sounds. A certain 
sound in ape, a different one in ant, and so on. In 
like manner each of the other four vowels has more 
than one sound, as is shown in the following tables. 
My young readers will do well to add to these lists a 
few examples of their own ? They oan easily think 
of others if they try, and success is always pleasant. 
I. 

WORDS IN WHICH a IS SOUNDED AS IT IS IN 



APE 


ANT 


cape 
lake 
face 
play 
spade 


lamp 

black 

plant 

rap 

daudy 



car 

starch 

alarm 

dark 

hard 



hall 

squaw 

dawn 

quart 

warm 



WORDS IN WHICH C IS SOUNDED A3 IT IS IN 



H E 


HER 


HEN 


the 


were 


deck 


equal 


fern 


bed 


speak 


verb 


stem 


secret 


perch 


step 


teach 


verse 


pet 



INTBODUCTION. 



III. 



IV. 



WOKDS IN WHICH l IS 
SOUNDED AS IT IS IN 


WORDS IN WHICH IS 
SOUNDED AS IT IS IN 


BITE 


BIT 


N 


NOT 


pie 

twice 

ride 

like 

pile 


pin 

kick 

rich 

milk 

fix 


poke 

sold 

flow 

grove 

toad 


lock 

chop 

honest 

pod 

hog 



V. 

WOEDS IN WHICH V, IS SOUNDED AS IT IS IN 



TUBE 


TUB 


June 


trunk 


mule 


purr 


flute 


much 


use 


tnrn 


pure 


fun 



6. Mental Pictures, or Ideas.— There is 
in the back part of your eye a kind of mirror, called 
the retina, on which an image is made of any object 
or collection of objects that you may happen to look 
at. Behind the retina there is a nerve, * called the 

* Nerves are fine, thread-like substances, found in every 
part of our bodies, one of whose uses is to inform the mind 
(that is shut up in the body, as it were,) of what is going on 
outside. 



MENTAL PICTUKES, OB IDEAS. 7 

optic nerve (or seeing nerve), proceeding from it to 
the brain. The brain is that part of us where the 
thinking is done ; and the business of the optic 
nerve is to take to the brain an impression of the 
image made on the retina ; and this impression on 
the brain is called a mental picture, or idea. The 
ear does a similar service. 

When I speak a word to you, the air in front of my 
mouth is thrown into little waves, like the waves 
produced in a still pond by throwing stones into it. 
If a fine pebble be thrown into the pond, a fine cir- 
cular ripple will be produced which will go widening 
and widening to the shore. If a handful of fine 
pebbles be thrown in, there will be a number of fine 
ripple-circles formed, which will chase each other to 
the shore. If large stones be thrown in, a series of 
waves will be produced. These ripples and waves 
on the water's surface show to the eye what happens 
in the great atmospheric ocean that surrounds our 
earth, whenever we hear a sound. This atmospheric 
ocean, or atmosphere, or simply the air, as we call 
it, is thrown into ripples or waves, which flow in 
circles away from the center of disturbance, that is, 
away from the spot where the sound began. Per- 
haps you understand now what I meant a moment 
ago when I said that if I should speak a word to you 
the air in front of my mouth would be thrown into 
little waves. These waves reach and enter your ear* 



8 INTRODUCTION, 

A little way down in the ear there is stretched across 
the passage a thin membrane, something like the 
parchment that drum-heads are made of. It is 
sometimes called the drum of the ear, though its 
proper name is the tympanum. Just beyond the 
tympanum is a set of four very small bones — the 
exact purpose of them we do not quite understand ; 
but a nerve goes off from there called the auditory 
nerve (or hearing nerve), to the brain, just as the 
optic nerve goes off from the retina of the eye to the 
brain. Now, when I speak a word to you, the 
air in front of my lips is thrown into little 
waves, or vibrations, which run off in circles, widen- 
ing and widening till they enter the ear pas- 
sage, and, striking the tympanum, set it vibrating, 
or trembling. The four little bones catch up the 
vibration, and convey it to the auditory nerve, which 
in turn takes up the story and carries it to the brain. 
The brain having the power of thinking, interprets* 
the sound and understands what is meant. 

In a similar way the organs! of smell, of touch, 
and of taste convey to the brain each its own pecu- 
liar impressions ; and it is through these five senses, 
as they are termed, that the mind gets all its infor- 

* Interpret means to explain, to translate. 

t An organ is an instrument— something used to produce 
a desired effect. Thus the eye is the organ of sight, or the 
instrument which the mind uses to see with: the ear is the 
organ of hearing, etc. 



WORDS REPRESENT IDEAS. 9 

mation about the external world. This information 
comes to the mind in the form of nerve-impressions, 
and these nerve-impressions are what we mean by 
mental pictures, or ideas. 

Ideas aee mental, pictures, of* impressions on 
the brain, conveyed* through one of the eive 

SENSES. 

7. Words Represent Ideas, — As letters rep- 
resent sounds of the voice, so words represent ideas, 
or mental impressions. If I show you a peach, your 
eye at once catches the image of it, the optic nerve 
conveys to the brain an exact impression of this 
image, and the mind at once understands 
peach. 

If, instead of showing you the fruit, I speak the 
word " peach" in your heariug, your ear at once 
catches the sound, the auditory nerve conveys to the 
brain an exact impression of what it heard at the 
little chime of the ear-bellsf (which God has hung 
for the ear's exclusive use just back of the tympa- 
num), and the mind at once, as before, understands 
peach. 

If, instead of showing you the peach, or speaking 
the word, I have you close your eyes and let you 
smell it, at -once the nerve of smell conveys to the 

* Conveyed means carried. 

t Those four little bones of the ear spoken of on the pre- 
ceding page* 



10 tNTBODUCTlON. 

brain its peculiar impression, and at once the mind 
understands again 

peach. 

If, instead of either of these ways, I have yon shut 
your eyes, and cut off the sense of smell, and then let 
you taste the fruit, at once the taste-nerve informs 
the brain of it, and the mind, as clearly as before, 
understands 

peach. 

If, finally, all other avenues of impression be cut 
off, and I let you feel it, at once the feeling-nerve 
carries its impression to the brain, and at once the 
mind, just as in all the other instances, under- 
stands 

peach. 

The word ' ' peach, " then, represents a mental 
impression, or idea, which the mind may have got 
in any one of five different ways. But not every 
object is able to give the brain an impression 
through all five of the senses. Many things can go 
by one channel only : as, for example, color, which 
can go only by the eye.* Bat, however obtained, 

* A person may have all his senses perfect except sight, 
but none of them will do to convey to the brain the impres- 
sion of a bine, a red, or any color. If he has never had 
sight, he cannot have any idea of color. He could not un- 
derstand it, if it were explained to him. He may by feeling 
be able to say, this is blue ; or, this is red ; showing that he 
feels a certain roughness, or smoothness, or softness, which 



SYLLABLES. 11 

the mental impression, or idea, is represented in lan- 
guage by a word. So we say, 

A WOED EEPEESENTS AN IDEA. 

8. Syllables.— Horse ; Horseman. The word 
" horse" is made up of several letters whose sounds 
blend* together so that it is pronounced with one 
action of the voice. Not so the word ' ' horseman. " 
In the pronunciation of this word there are two 
separate sets of sounds — one set producing the word 
"horse," and the other the word "man." Two 
actions of the voice are requisitef to call the word. 
A set of sounds with but one action of the voice is 
called a ' ' syllable. " A word of one syllable is called 
a "monosyllable," as, horse, dog, pig, boy, girl. 

In pronouncing the words "a-corn," "i-dol," 
"o-cean," tb ere is first a single vowel-sound, and 
then a set of sounds. The parts into which a great 
many words are divided are called syllables, which 
may be thus defined : 

A SYLLABLE IS ONE OE MOEE LETTEES OF A WOED 
PEONOUNCED WITH ONE ACTION OE THE VOICE. 

A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable ; 
a word of two syllables, a dissyllable ; a word of 

belongs to a red or a blue article ; but he can have no idea 
of color unless he has seen it, any more than an animal, not 
having a conscience, can have an idea of right and wrong. 

* 151 end means to mingle, to mix. 

t JRe*|uis|te means necessary. 



12 INTKODUCTION. 

three syllables, a trisyllable ; a word of four or 
more syllables, a polysyllable. 

Thus : monosyllables, boy, my, here ; dissyl- 
lables, wo man, ba ker, inu sic ; trisyllables, 
beau ti ful, po lite ness, dis ci piine ; polysyl- 
lables, al to geth er, un de sir a bil i ty, in ge nn i ty. 

9. Various Sorts of Words.*— We learned 
in section 7 that words represent ideas. As there are 
various sorts of ideas, so there must be various sorts 
of words to represent, or stand for them. First, 
there must be names for the things we see, taste, 
handle, etc. ; as, 

moon apple knife 

These we call nouns. Then there must be words 
that tell what these things do ; as, 
The moon shines. The apple grows. The knife 

cuts. 
These we call veebs. Next there must be words to 
describe the nouns or tell what kind they are ; as, 
The bright moon. The ripe apple. The sharp 

knife. 
These we call adjectives. Next there must be words 

* This paragraph is not intended to give a complete idea of 
the nature and offices of the different parts of speech. Much 
further instruction and much practice will be required to 
enable the pupil to recognize them readily. Little else is 
here intended than to introduce properly the important 
statement that there are eight parts of speech. 



STATEMENTS. 13 

to describe the verbs, or tell 7ww they do what they 
say ; as, 

The moon shines softly. The appple grows 
slowly. The knife cuts deeply. 

These we call advekbs. There are four other kinds 
of words, making eight in all, which are called the 
eight pakts of speech. But the four above enu- 
merated* — nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs — 
make up nearly all the words there are in the Eng- 
lish language. Of the other four there are only 
about 300 altogether. 

The most important of these eight Parts of Speech 
is the noun, because a thing must have a name be- 
fore we can talk much about it. The second in 
importance is the verb. 



CHAPTER II. 
THE SENTENCE. 

1. Statements.— Take the name ''John." 
Suppose I were to tell you something about him — 
that he is asleep — that he is sick — that he goes to 
school — that he likes candy, thus : 

* Enumerate means to mention one by one. 



14 THE SENTENCE. 

John is asleep. John is sick. 

John goes to school. John likes candy. 

All of these four expressions make perfect sense. 
They all inform you of something. They all de- 
clare or state something about John, and are called 
statements. They have another name, too — sen- 
tences. 

If I should simply say ' ' John. " and stop there, 
you would wait to hear what I was going to say 
about him. I should not give you any information 
by that expression. I should not state anything. 
The word is not a statement, not a sentence. 

In the same way, if I should say ' ' is asleep, " 
you would naturally ask, ' ' Who is asleep ? " The 
expression ' ' is asleep " is not enough to give you any 
information. It might be John that ' ' is asleep, " or 
the cat, or the baby. This expression, then, is also 
insufficient. It does not state anything, and is there- 
fore not a statement, or sentence. 

Thus we see that to make a statement, it is neces- 
sary to have these two parts : 

First, We must have to begin with, the name of 
somebody or something or some place ; this name is 
very properly called the subject of the remark we are 
going to make. 

And, secondly, something must be said about that 
subject. These two parts are necessary to every 
statement, ox sentence. 



THE PHEASE. 15 

A STATEMENT IS A EEMAEK CONSISTING OF TWO 
PAETS. 

Observe that while a statement is made up of only 
two pavts^ it may contain many words. In fact sen- 
tences generally consist of several words, as, The 

COOK MAKES PIES ; DAISY FED THE BIED. It WOuld 

not do to say, ' i The cook makes, "or " Daisy fed ;" 
that would not be perfect sense, and so there would 
be no sentence. Both these sentences, The cook 
makes pies, and Daisy fed the bird % consist of two 
parts, just as boys play. l l The cook, " and * * makes 
pies," are the two parts of the first, and " Daisy" 
and ' ' fed the bird " the two parts of the other. 

2. The Phrase* — Suppose I were to say to you 
all of a sudden, ' ' in the house. " You would stare 
at me, and wonder what I meant. The words ' ' in 
the house " do not make a statement. They are 
only a part of a statement. They are correct as far 
as they go, but their meaning is incomplete. But 
if I were to say, "house the in, " you might laugh, 
for these words are not properly put together ; there 
is no sense in them. 

Expressions like ' ' in the house, " ' ' sweet apples, " 
"made of gold," " baby's cradle, " "makes pies," 
etc. , composed of words properly put together, but 
incomplete by themselves, are called phrases. 

A PHEASE IS A SET OF WOEDS PEOPEELY PUT TO- 
GETHEB, BUT INCOMPLETE BY THEMSELVES, 



16 THE SENTENCE. 

3. Subject and Predicate. — I have told you 
that in every sentence there are two parts. There 
is first, a thing mentioned to begin with, that is, a 
subject ; and, secondly, something is said about that 
subject. Take the sentence, 

Brooks flow. 
Observe, first, that something is mentioned to begin 
with, a subject, viz, ' ' brooks, " and then something is 
said about this subject, viz., "flow." Again, take 
the following : 
Three beautiful brooks flow through my father's 

farm. 
Here we have, as before, first, something mentioned 
to begin with, a subject, viz., "three beautiful 
brooks," and then we have, secondly, something said 
about them, viz. , ' ' flow through my father's farm. " 
Now turn the sentence a little, thus : 
Through my father's farm flow three beautiful 

brooks. 
What is the subject now ? ' 'Three beautiful brooks, " 
the same as before ; for the sense is just the same. 
Though these three words stand last in the sentence, 
yet they stood first in the mind of the person that com- 
posed the sentence, and are therefore the leading 
words of the sentence, o'r the subject, out of which 
all the rest grows. 

The second part of the sentence, or the part that 
tells something about the subject, has a hard name ; 



SUBJECT AND PEEDICATE. 17 

it is called the predicate. * In the sentence, Brooks 
flow, ' * flow " is the predicate ; it tells, or declares 
something about the subject, "brooks." In the 
sentence, Three beautiful brooks flow through my 
father's farm, the words, * i flow through my father's 
farm, " are the predicate ; they are the part of the 
sentence that tells something about the subject, 
"three beautiful brooks." 

Subject and predicate, then, are the two parts of 
every sentence ; and whether the sentence be short 
or long, every word in it belongs to one or other of 
these two parts. 

When words stand in the sentence in the same 
order they had in the mind of the person that com- 
posed the sentence, as in 

Three beautiful brooks How through my father's 
farm, 

that is, the subject first and the predicate last, with 
their adjuncts,] if *they have any, placed as they 
would be in common and simple speech, the sentence 
is said to have the natural order. But when this 
order is changed, as it very often is, both in speaking 
and writing, as in 

Through my father's farm How three beautiful 
brooks, 

* That is, the asserting, or declaring word, from the Latin 
predico, I assert, or declare. 
t See remarks about adjuncts on page 21, 



18 THE SENTENCE. 

in which the predicate, preceded by its adjuncts, 
comes first, and the subject last, the sentence is said 
to have an inverted order, 

EVEEY SENTENCE IS MADE UP OF TWO PABTS, SUB- 
JECT AND PREDICATE. 

4. The Bare Sentence. — Consider the fol- 
lowing sentences, in which the subject and predicate 
are separated by a vertical line : 

1. Mary's pretty little Kitty | sleeps quietly on 
the rug. 

2. Little Kitty | sleeps quietly. 

3. Kitty | sleeps. 

Each of these examples is a sentence ; there is one 
statement in each and only one — one subject and 
one predicate. In the first example the statement is 
fuller than it is in the second ; and in the second it 
is fuller than it is in the third. In the first the sub- 
ject consists of four words, 

Mary's pretty little Kitty, 
and the predicate consists of five words, 

Sleeps quietly on the rug. 
Now take the subject, 

Mary's pretty little Kitty, 
and strip off the first word, "Mary's;" there is left, 

pretty little Kitty. 
This omission does not destroy the sentence, for 
what is left makes sense when used along with the 
predicate, thus : 



THE BAKE SENTENCE. 19 

Pretty little Kitty | sleeps quietly on the rug. 

It is not now so full a statement as it was before, 
but it is a perfect statement, and is therefore a sen- 
tence. Again, strip off the second word of the sub- 
ject, " pretty;" there is left, 

little Kitty. 
This is enough to keep the sentence unbroken, for 

Little Kitty | sleeps quietly on the rug 
makes sense, and is therefore a perfect sentence, 
though it is not so full as before. Again, strip off 
the third word of the subject, "little," and there is 
left, 

Kitty. 
Even this is enough to keep the sentence whole, 
for 

Kitty | sleeps quietly on the rug 
makes perfect sense, and is therefore a sentence ; 
but the original subject, 

Mary's pretty little Kitty, 
has been stript bare in the operation, and the word 
that is left, "Kitty," we call the bare subject. 

Let us now treat the predicate, 

sleeps quietly on the rug, 
in the same way. First strip off the word that 
stands next to ' ' sleeps, " viz, ' * quietly;" there is left, 

sleeps on the rug. 
This is not so full as the predicate was before, but 



20 THE SENTENCE. 

when taken along with the bare subject " Kitty," it 
is enough to make a perfect sentence, thus : 

Kitty sleeps on the rug. 
Again, strip off from the predicate the last three 
words, " on the rug " (which have to be taken to- 
gether), and there is left, 

sleeps. 
This is enough to make perfect sense when taken 
along with the bare subject '^Kitty, 5 ' thus : 

Kitty sleeps. 
But the original predicate, 

sleeps quietly on the rug, 
has been stript bare in the operation, and the word 
that is left, "sleeps," we call the ba re predicate. 
The little stript sentence, 

Kitty sleeps, 
is a very different sentence from the one we began 
with, viz., 

Mary's pretty little Kitty sleeps quietly on 
the rug, 
but it is just as truly a sentence ; for it makes per- 
fect sense, it expresses a thought, it contains a sub- 
ject and a predicate. 

If we had taken out of the original sentence either 
of these two words — " Kitty sleeps, " we should have 
destroyed the sentence, but so long as these two 
words remain, the sentence stands unbroken, no 
matter what adjuncts are cut off. These two, 



ADJUNCTS. 21 

lb en, are the most important words in the sentence; 
they are the backbone of the sentence ; they are the 
foundation on which all the rest is built. 

5. Adjuncts, — All the other words being joined 

to one or the other of these two in order to enlarge 
or complete its meaning, are called adjuncts. * 

WOKDS JOINED TO ANOTHER WOED IN ORDER TO 
ENLARGE ITS MEANING ARE CALLED ITS ADJUNCTS. 

6. Summary of the Preceding Me~ 
metrics. — The first four words of the original sen- 
tence, taken together, viz. , Mary's pretty little 
Kitty, are called the complete subject, and Kitty 
is called the bare subject. The last five words 
taken together, viz., sleeps quietly on the rug, are 
called the complete predicate, and sleeps is called 
the bare predicate. The whole original sentence, 
Mary's pretty little Kitty sleeps quietly on the 
rug, is called the complete sentence, and the little 
stript sentence, Kitty sleeps, is called the bare 
sentence. ^ 

a bare sentence is one that has no adjuncts. 

The bare subject is the subject without ad- 
juncts. 

The bare predicate is the predicate without 
adjuncts. 

* Adjunct means joined to. 



22 THE SENTENCE. 

In the full, or complete sentence, The beautiful 
snowfalls lightly to the ground, ' ' the beautiful snow " 
is the complete subject, and "falls lightly to the 
ground " is the complete predicate. " Snow" is the 
bare subject, and "falls" is the bare predicate. 
"Snow falls" is the bare sentence. "The" and 
" beautiful" are adjuncts of the bare subject, and 
"lightly " and "to the ground " are adjuncts of the 
bare predicate. 

"When an adjunct consists of several words 
that cannot well be taken separately, it is 
called a phrase-adjunct (like the expression "to 

THE GROUND " IN THE ABO YE SENTENCE). 

7. Bare Sentences Enlarged.— As full, or 
complete sentences are stript, or made bare senten- 
ces by cutting on the adjuncts of subject and predi- 
cate, so bare sentences may be clothed, or enlarged 
by supplying adjuncts to subject and predicate. 
Thus, take the bare sentence, Lead floats. This may 
be enlarged by adding to the subject the phrase- 
adjunct, "though a metal, and a very heavy one," 
and to the predicate the phrase-adjunct, "when 
placed ina vessel of quicksilver." The enlarged 
sentence will then be, Lead, though a metal, and 
a very heavy one, floats when placed in a vessel 
or quicksilver, in which "lead " is the bare subject, 
and "floats " thebare predicate ; and " lead, though 
a metal, and a very heavy one," is the complete sub- 



BUILDING UP SENTENCES STEP BY STEP. 23 

feet, and ' ' floats when placed in a vessel of quick- 
silver" the complete predicate. 

Again, take the bare sentence, Horses died. This 
may be enlarged by adding to the subject the fol- 
lowing adjuncts : "our," "three," "poor," and 
"blind," and to the predicate the following phrase- 
adjuncts : "last night," and "of old age." The 
enlarged sentence will then be, Our three, poor, 

BLIND HORSES DIED LAST NIGHT OF OLD AGE, in which 

' ' our three, poor, blind horses " is the complete sub- 
ject, and "died last night of old age" the complete 



8. Building up Sentences Step by Step. 

— Take the bare sentence contained in the following 
complete sentence, and see how the complete sen- 
tence may be built up from it step by step : — The 
wild monkeys of South America \ climb with great 
agility. In this complete sentence the bare sentence 
is, " Monkeys | climb. " This is built up by first ad- 
ding to the subject the adjunct " the," making it, 
The monkeys \ climb; 2, by adding to the subject the 
adjunct "wild," making it, The wild monkeys J climb; 
3, by adding to the subject the phrase-adjunct "of 
South America," making it, The wild monkeys of 
South America \ climb; 4, by adding to the predicate 
the phrase-adjunct " with agility, " making it, The 
wild monkeys of South America \ climb with agility; 
5, and lastly, by adding to the predicate the adjunct 



24 THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 

" great," making the complete sentence, The wild 
monkeys of South America \ climb with great agility. 

Again, take the bare sentence, Lee surrendered, 
and bui]d it up step by step, thus : 

1, By adding to the subject the phrase-adjunct 
"with his army," makiog it, Lee, with his army, \ 
surrendered; 2, by adding to the subject the adjunct 
"whole," making it, Lee, with his whole army, | sur- 
rendered ; 3, by adding to the predicate the phrase- 
adjunct, "to Grant," making it, Lee, with his whole 
army, \ surrendered to Grant ; 4, by adding to the 
predicate the phrase-adjunct "at Appomatox," 
making it, Lee, with his wlwle army, \ surrendered to 
Grant at Appomatox ; 5, and lastly, by adding to the 
predicate the phrase-adjunct "in 1865, " making the 
complete sentence, Lee, with his ichole army, \ sur- 
rendered to Grant at Appomatox in 1865. 



CHAPTER III. 
THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 

1. Names, or Nouns.— Observe the follow- 
ing list of words : sky, Sara, cloud, boy, tree, star, 
city, Mexico, snow, river, Amazon, prayer, moun- 
tain, brook, lion, rock, ocean, sight, Plymouth, pleas- 
ure. 



PARTICULAR NAMES. 25 

These words are all names of something, and are 
called nouns. 

All names are nouns. 

You notice, no doubt, that some of them begin 
with the capital and some do not. Let us see why 
they do so. Take the word ' ' Sara, " for instance — a 



girl's name, 
as, 

pupil, 


Now this girl has 


many other n 




person, 


individual, 


child, 




scholar, 


being, 


niece, 




siste'r, 


schoolmate, 


companion, 


daughter, 


friend, etc. 



All these names belong to her, but not one of 
them points her out from other girls as the name 
" Sara" does. 

2. Particular Names. — In the same way 
* ' Mexico, " " Amazon, " and ' ' Plymouth, " point out 
particular places. For this reason they are called 
particular names, and we begin them with the capi- 
tal to dignify them, or give them particular import- 
ance. By and by I will tell you another name for 
them, but for the present I want you to call them 
particular names. 

The particular names of persons and places 
must begin with the capital. 

3. The Verb, — It was laid down in the preced- 
ing chapter that every sentence has these two parts, 
subject and predicate ; first, something about which 



26 THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 

a remark is ( going to be made, and, secondly, a 
remark made about it. Thus : 
1 1 am asleep, 
John | is asleep, John | sleeps. 

The upright line is put in to separate the subject 
from the predicate. In the first example the adjec- 
tive asleep describes the condition of the person 
which I stands for. In the second example it de- 
scribes the condition of John. Now I asleep is not 
a statement or sentence; neither is John asleep. But 
couple the first two with the word am or the second 
two with the word is, and then you have a sentence. 
These words am and is are verbs. They do not 
usually make a complete predicate by themselves, 
but require another word to go along with them. 
But in the third of the above examples, John \ sleeps, 
the predicate consists of but one word, sleeps. This 
declares, or asserts, or predicates* something about 
John, and is therefore a verb. 

Most verbs declare something about a noun 
or pronoun. 

4. The Pronoun, — If I should say, John loves 
John's clog, my young readers would tell me that I 
did not speak correctly ; that I ought to say, John 
loves his dog. Take the following sentences : Mary 
learns Mary's lesson. Trees lose trees' leaves in winter. 

* See note on page 17. 



THE PRONOUN. 27 

The words ' ' Mary's" and ' ' trees' " are wrong. Ob- 
serve they are both nouns. The sentences should 
be, Mary learns her lesson. Trees lose their leaves in 
winter. The words " her "and " their" are used 
instead of the nouns, ' £ Mary's " and * ' trees'. " They 
are called pronouns.* They are substitutes] for 
nouns. The following sentence is queer : Mary 
said, ' ' Mary loves Mary's little brother. " If we sub- 
stitute I for the second * ' Mary " and my for 
"Mary's," and change "loves" to love, it will be 
much improved ; thus : Mary said, ' ' I love my little 
brother." "I" and "my" are called pronouns, or 
substitutes for nouns. 

The pronoun is a substitute-word. \ 
The pronoun " I " stands for the name of the per- 
son that is speaking, " you " stands for the name of 
the person that is spoken to, and " he," "she," and 
"it " stand for the name of the person or thing that 
is spoken of. So we say, 

A PRONOUN STANDS FOR A NOUN. 

* Latin pro means for. 

t A substitute is a person or thing put in place of an- 
other. 

t The pronouns in most common use are the following ; 5, 
we, you, thou, tiiee, tie, slie, it, me, us, him, her, 
they, them, who, whose, whom, which, what, 
my, mine, thy, thiaie, our, ours, your, yours, 
his, hers, its, their, theirs. Of this list the last thir- 
teen are used as adjectives also. 



28 THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 

Looking at the subject a little more closely we 
shall now see that this definition must be enlarged. 

5. Examples for Practice.— Cowed the 
two following sentences, and notice what words dis- 
appear in the corrections : 1. Mr. Jones told Mr. 
Jones's scholars that Mr. Jones's scholars might go. 
2. The dog bit the dog's little master while playing 
with tlie dog's little master. Yon of course observe 
that in making the proper corrections you more 
than once put a pronoun in place of several words. 

See how much you can shorten the following sen- 
tences by substituting pronouns for groups of 
words : 

1. The big Newfoundland dog is fond of the big 
Newfoundland dog's young master. 

2. The bright little Japanese scholar took off the 
bright little Japanese scholar's cap as the bright little 
Japanese scholar entered the room. 

3. Billy, the children's favorite saddle-horse, 
thrashed the baby in the face with the children's 
favorite saddle-horse's tail, without suspecting that 
the children's favorite saddle-horse was showing 
great discourtesy to the president's little son. 

4. He is in jail, and I do not wonder at his being 
in jail. 

5. Tell that little girl in a pretty pink dress that I 
would like to speak to that little girl in a pretty pink 
dress. 



THE ADJECTIVE. 29 

6. While Hop Kong was sitting in Hop Kong's 
laundry, counting Hop Kong's money, a bad boy hit 
Hop Kong in Hop Kong's face with a stone, and 
hurt Hop Kong badly. 

From all these examples we see that we shall have 
to enlarge our definition of a pronoun by saying 
that 

A PRONOUN OFTEN STANDS FOR A GROUP OF WORDS. 

6. The Adjective. — Take these two expres- 
sions : 

Baby. Little Baby. 

The second has more meaning than the first. 
In the first there is but one idea ; in the 
second there are two. The first expresses an ob- 
ject ; the second expresses the same object with a 
slight description of it. This describing word is 
called an adjective. It must always have a noun 
along with it, though the noun is not always ex- 
pressed. The adjectives are a large class of words; 
not so large as the noun and the verb, but much 
larger than the pronoun. 

Most adjectives describe nouns. 

What would you think of the following sentence ? 
Cat caught owl in tree. You would say it was not 
right. Why is it not ? It contains the necessary 
two parts — subject and predicate ; and it expresses 
a thought plainly enough. But it is not in the usual 



30 THE PAKTS OF SPEECH. 

style. You say correctly that it ought to be the (or 
a) cat caught an (or the) owl in a (or the) tree. 

7. Articles. — These little words the, an, and a 
are called aeticles. There are only these three of 
them, and though so few, they are important on 
account of being used in almost every sentence. 

In the next chapter you will learn that an and a 
have the same meaning, so that while there are three 
different articles, there are only two kinds — tlie being 
one kind, and an and a the other. As the articles 
are ^always adjuncts of nouns, they are a kirid of 
adjective. 

8. The Adverb. — We now come to a more 
puzzling part of speech, the adverb. 

Take the sentence, The river flows. If you wished 
to tell how it flows, or its mode or manner of flowing, 
you might say, it flows softly, or noisily, or swiftly, or 
sluggishly. These words would describe the mode of 
the verb, and would be said to modify* it. They are 
called adverbs.] 

Most adverbs modify verbs. 

Let us look further. 

Take these sentences : I speak truly ; Mary has 
improved remarkably ; he walks strangely. ' * Truly, " 
u remarkably," and "strangely," are adverbs, for 

* Modify has here somewhat the meaning of describe, 
t So called because they are added to the verb. 



THE ADVERB. 31 

each modifies a verb. But now consider the follow- 
ing phrases : a truly wise man ; a remarkably 
severe storm ; a strangely earnest face. Here we 
have the same three words, ' ' truly, " ' ' remarkably, " 
and ' ' strangely. " Though called adverbs, they do 
not here modify verbs ; indeed, there are no verbs 
in the examples. ' ' Truly " goes with ' ' wise " to tell 
how wise, ' ' remarkably " goes with ' ' severe " to tell 
how severe, and ' ' strangely " goes with ' ' earnest " to 
tell how earnest. But these three words, ' ' wise, " 
' ' severe, " and ' ' earnest, " since they describe nouns, 
are adjectives. We saw just now that some adverbs 
go with verbs to modif} r them ; we now see that some 
adverbs go with adjectives to modify them. We 
must therefore say also, 

Some adverbs modify adjectives. 

Here are a few examples of adverbs modifying 
adjectives : try to think of others : 

Socrates was a truly wise man., The peach is a re- 
markably fine fruit. Waslii ngton was very patriotic. 
Let us now go a little further still into this subject. 
Take these sentences : 

1. They had a very fat pig, 

2. The pig eats very greedily. 

In No. 1, "fat" is an adjective because it gOes 
with the noun " pig " to describe it, and "very " is 
an adverb because it goes with the adjective " fat " 
to tell how fat. So we see that very in the phrase 



32 THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 

* ' a very tat pig " is an adverb modifying an adjective, 
just as we saw that truly in the phrase "a truly 
wise man " was an adverb modifying an adjective. 

But now consider No. 2. ' ' Greedily " is an adverb 
because it goes with the verb ' ' eats " to tell how the 
pig eats, just as we saw a little while ago that 
1 * swiftly " was an adverb going with the verb ' 'flows" 
to tell how the river flows. In No. 1, " very " goes 
with the adjective " f at " to tell how fat, but in No- 
2, ' ' very " goes with the adverb "greedily" to tell 
hcnc greedily. Thus we see that ' ' very, " which is 
an adverb, here modifies another adverb. So we 
have to enlarge our definition of the adverb still 
more by saying that 

A FEW ADVERBS MODIFY OTHER ADVERBS. 

Here are a few examples of adverbs modifying 
other adverbs : try to think of others : 

You eat too fast. He spoke rather slowly. How 
sweetly the canary sings. 

Summing up the whole matter, we say that 

Most adverbs modify verbs, some modify adjec- 
ttves, and a few modify other adverbs. 

9. The Preposition. — Probably the part of 
speech which puzzles beginners the most is the one 
we now come to, the preposition. When I say ' ' the 
book is on the desk, " the word ' * on " shows the situ- 
ation of the book with reference to the desk, or in 



THE PEEPOSITION. 33 

relation to the desk. If now I say, * ' The book is 
in the desk, " the word * * in " shows that the situation 
of the book with reference to the desk, or in relation 
to the desk is different from what it was before. We 
might say, " The book is on, in, under, over, above, 
below, beside, behind, or beneath the desk." The 
words ' ' on, " ' * in, " " under, " etc. , show the situa- 
tion of the book in reference to, or in relation to the 
desk, or, show the relation of the book to the desk. 
Where is the dog in reference to, or in relation to his 
kennel ? Perhaps he is in it ; perhaps on it ; per- 
haps beside it. Where is the bird in reference to, or 
in relation to its nest ? Perhaps it is in its nest ; 
perhaps under it ; perhaps over it. Such words as 
in, on, beside, under, over, etc., are sometimes called 
relation-words. They are prepositions. 

Take the sentence, * ' James fell through trhe ice. " 
This statement tells us two things : 

First, that James fell; and 

Secondly, that his fall was in reference to the ice, 
or in relation to the ice. This relation is shown by 
the word ' ' through, " which is therefore called a 
* ' relation-word, " or preposition. 

The word ' ' preposition " means placed before. It 
is so named because it is commonly placed before 
the word it goes with ; as, in the phrases, 

In a tree. Down the hill. Up a ladder. 
Under the barn. To me. For you. With them. 



34 THE PAETS OF SPEECH. 

Perhaps you discover that in several of the above 
phrases the preposition is in reality placed before an 
article instead of a noun or pronoun. This requires 
explanation. Take the sentence, There is a bear 
up the tree. Here the preposition shows a connec- 
tion or "relation " (as it is called in grammar) be- 
tween the words * ' tree " and ' ' bear. " The article 
is an unimportant part of the statement, and is left 
out of consideration in the present explanation. If 
a little child that did not know many words, and 
had not learned to put them together properly, 
should run into the house arid excitedly say to its 
mother, ' ' Mamma, bear up tree! " the mother would 
understand the child's meaning at once. For these 
three words, ' ' bear up tree, " give the sense of the 
perfect statement, ' ' There is a bear up the tree. " 
"Bear" and ' ' tree " are the words whose connec- 
tion, or relation is shown by the preposition ' ' up. " 
We may therefore leave out the article "the" in 
considering this relation, and say correctly that the 
preposition is placed before the noun " tree." 

' ' PEEPOSITION " MEANS PLACED BEFOEE. 

You may be called on to compose sentences con- 
taining certain prepositions. Suppose you had to 
make a sentence containing the preposition up, and 
you should write, Little Bessie pulled the bean up to see 
if it had sprouted. That would not be right. It is a 
good sentence, but it is not what was required. You 



THE PEEPOSITTOft. 35 

have just learned that the word " preposition " means 
placed before, and that it is so called because, in sen- 
tences, it is commonly placed before a noun or a 
pronoun. But in the above sentence, " up "is not 
placed before a noun or pronoun, and is not a pre- 
position, but an adverb, because it modifies the verb 
pulled, showing how she pulled the bean. If you 
had written, Little Bessie pulled, the bean up the hill 
in her cart, it would have been correct, because in 
this sentence "up " stands before the noun "hill," 
and is a preposition. The same words often have 
different meanings and different uses in sentences. 
In the sentence, * ' Little Bessie pulled the bean up 
the hill in her cart," "up" and "in" are preposi- 
tions, as you have learned. "Up" is placed before 
the noun ' ' hill, " and " in " is placed before the noun 
' * cart. " Each shows a certain relation between the 
word it is placed before and some other word. The 
sentence might have said, * ' Little Bessie pulled the 
bean down the hill. " Then " down " would show a 
different relation between the noun "hill " and the 
other word. What is the other word ? Is it " bean ?" 
That stands next to the preposition. What took 
place up the hill, or down the hill ? Does ' ' bean " 
show what took place ? No. Does not ' ' pulled " 
show what took place ? Bessie pulled up the hill — ■ 
or down the hill — did she not ? Then "pulled " is 
the word that is related to "hill" — this relation 



36 THE PABTS OF SPEECH. 

beiog shown by the preposition. Take another sen- 
tence. "The leaves fall from the trees in the 
autumn." In this sentence, "from " and " in " are 
prepositions. "From" shows a relation between 
the word it stands before, viz. , ' ' trees, " and some 
other word. ' ' In " shows a relation between the 
word it stands before, viz., "autumn," and some 
other word. "What is that other word ? It is plain 
enough that * ' from " shows a relation between ' ' fall" 
and " trees ; " is it not also plain that " in " shows 
a relation between the same word, "fall," and 
"autumn ? " They fall erom the trees, and they fall 
in the autumn — do they not? You see you will 
have to think a little to pick out the right words 
that are related to each other through the preposi- 
tion. One of these words is always the word which 
the preposition stands before, but the other word is 
sometimes placed some distance off. 

From this we may make the following statement: 
The preposition usually shows a relation be- 
tween A NOUN OB PRONOUN AND SOME OTHEB WOBD. 

And summing up the whole we say, 

The pbeposition is a word usually placed be- 
fobe a noun (ob peonoun) to show the latter's* 
eelation to some otheb word. 

10. The Conjunction. 

Susan had a goat, Mary had a dog. 

* By llie latter is meant the noun (or pronoun) . 



THE INTEEJECTION. 37 

"We may write these two sentences together, thus: 
Susan had a goat and Mary had a dog. 

In this last sentence ' ' and" joins together the two 
parts. 

Again, take the following sentences : 

Susan had a goat. Mary had a goat. 
We may write these sentences together, thus : 

Susan and Mary each had a goat. 
In this last sentence ' ' and " joins together the two 
names * * Susan " and ' ' Mary. " * ' And " is called a 
conjunction.* 

Conjunctions are connecting-woeds. 

Take the following : 

Beans and corn. Boys or girls. 
The sun is up and the birds are singing. 
Observe that in the first and second of the above 
examples, the conjunctions " and "and "or" con- 
nect single words ; but in the third example, the con- 
junction "and" connects one group of words, "the 
sun is up, " to another group of words, ' ' the birds 
are singing. " 

From these considerations we get the following 
definition : 

Conjunctions connect single woeds and geoups 

or WOEDS. 

11. The Interjection. 

Alas S birdie is dead. 0, what a sad story ! 

* Conjunction means a joining together. 



38 THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 

The words "alas" and "O" are mere words of 

exclamation. They express feeling, or emotion, and 
so are sometimes called " emotion -words. " They 
are interjections, * and are so called because they 
do not combine with the other Parts of Speech to 
form sentences, and are therefore not properly parts 
of the sentence, but are words thrown into it— cries 
of strong or sudden feeling. Their presence in the 
sentence is much like the rjresence of spectators in 
Congress — who are not members of the body, but 
only interested lookers-on, having no voice in the 
jDroceedings except to hiss and applaud. This is 
about what .the interjection does in the sentence. 

Interjections aee emotion-words. They usually 
require the exclamation-mark (!). 

12. Classified According to their Use.- 

1. In the sentence, " There is a light in the win- 
dow, " what part of speech is ' ' light ? " You answer 
that it is a noun. Yes, being the name of something, 
it must be a noun. 

2. In the sentence, ' 6 They light the lamp, " what 
part of speech is ' ' light ? " You answer that it is a 
verb. Yes, it must be a verb here, because it de- 
clares something about the pronoun " they." 

3. In the sentence, ' ' You have a light school- 
room, " what part of speech is ' ' light ? " You an- 
swer that it is an adjective. Yes, it is now an adjec- 

* Interjection means thrown among. 



CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THEIR USE. 39 

tive, because it goes with the noun ' ' school-room " 
to describe it. 
Again, take the word ' ' board. " 

1. " This is a pine board." " Board " is here a 
noun, as it is the name of an object. 

2. "The carpenter will board up the window." 
1 * Board " is here a verb, as it declares something 
about the noun " carpenter." 

3. "He put up a board fence. " "Board" is here 
an adjective, because it goes with the noun ' ' fence " 
to describe it. 

4. "I went on board of the boat. " ' ' Board " is 
here a part of the compound preposition "on board 
of , " which stands before ' ' boat " to show the latter's 
relation to the verb "went." 

Thus you see that some words belong to one or to 
another part of speech, according to the way tliey are 
used. 

Now try to make sentences introducing the fol- 
lowing words. In each case make a separate sen- 
tence for every different part of speech noted in the 
parenthesis. 

fair (noun and adjective). 

warm (adjective and verb). 

cook (noun and verb). 

iron (noun, adjective, and verb). 

fly (noun and veib). 

hard (adj ective ax\d adverb). 



40 THE PARTS OF SPEECH. 

dry (adjective, and verb). 

stone (noun, adjective, and verb). 
A Puzzle. — Write as many sentences as you can, 
using the word down in every one, but each time as 
a different part of speech. Six sentences can be 
made. 



A Bird's-Eye View. 
13. There are in English eight kinds, or classes 
of words, called Parts of Speech : 

1. Noun. 5. Adverb. 

2. Verb. 6. Preposition. 

3. Pronoun. 7. Conjunction. 

4. Adjective. 8. Interjection. 
A noun is the name of anything. 

Most verbs declare something about a noun (or 
pronoun. ) 

A pronoun generally stands for a noun ; but it 
often stands for a group of words. 

Most adjectives describe nouns. 

An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective or another 
adverb. 

A preposition generally shows a relation of a noun 
or pronoun to some other word. 

A conjunction connects words together. 

An interjection expresses emotion. 



CONDENSED SUMMAEY. 41 

Condensed Summary. 

14. Nouns are name-words. 

Most verbs are assertioif-words. 
Pronouns are substitute-words. 
Most adjectives are quality-words. 
Adverbs are mode-words. 
Prepositions are relation-words. 
Conjunctions are connecting- words. 
Interjections are emotion-words. 



CHAPTER IV. 



SOME SUB-CLASSES OF. WORDS. 



1. Nouns : Common and Proper.— Sup- 
pose you were set down all of a sudden, as if by 
magic, in a busy street of the City of New York, 
without knowing what city it was, or any person in 
it. Looking around, you might say, "This is a 
street.'" You would know it was not a river, or a 
canal, or a meadow, or a country road. You would 
know it to be a street from its resemblance to other 
streets you had seen — from its appearance, its char- 
acteristics, its nature. Walking along the thor- 
oughfare, and looking up and down the various 
cross~streets as you passed them, and seeing them 



42 SOME SUB-CLASSES OF WOEDS. 

stretching far away in both directions, and built up 
solidly with houses, you might say, ' ' This is a city. " 
You would know it to be a city from its resemblance 
to other cities you had seen — from its appearance, 
its characteristics, its nature. You might safely say 
that the people moving about were men and women, 
boys and girls, because they appeared to have the 
nature of men and women, boys and girls, and not 
the nature of sheep, goats, dogs, or cattle. The 
animals harnessed to carts, trucks, omnibuses, 
street-cars, wagons, etc., you would call horses for 
the same reason. If you were to go down to the 
water-side, you would see many vessels — here a 
ship, a sloop, a schooner, a brig, a yacht ; there a 
steamer, a tug, a ferry-boat ; yonder a lighter, a 
barge, a row-boat ; all of which you might, if you 
had studied, or read, or heard about such things, 
call properly by name, though you had never seen 
one of them before. 

Now every one of all these various objects — this 
city, these streets, these men and women, boys and 
girls, these horses, these vessels of whatever kind — 
have every one of them a particular name which 
was given to it by somebody to distinguish* it from 
all others of its kind. Thus, the city is New York ; 
this street is Broadway ; that man's name is John ; 
that woman's name is Mary ; that steamer is the 

* To distinguish here means to set apart. 



NOUNS : COMMON AND PROPER. 43 

Fulton ; this skip is the Flying Cloud ; yonder 
horse's name is Billy ; and so on. 

These particular, or special names you could not 
tell in a single instance unless some one that knew 
should first tell you. 

You see then that these names — city, street, man, 
woman, horse, ship, etc. , are a very different kind 
of name from New York, Broadway, John, Mary, 
Billy, Flying Cloud, etc. The former kind we 
might call natural names, because they are the 
names that belong to them on account of their 
nature — names which any intelligent person would 
know the first time he should see them, without 
being told. The latter kind we might call given 
names, because each one is the name that somebody 
has given to that particular person or thing, and 
which nobody could know until he was told. These 
natural names are not so called, I am sorry to say. 
You must learn to call them common names, or 
common nouns ; while the given names you must 
learn to call proper names, or proper nouns. 

Common nouns are so called because the name is 
common to all objects of the same kind (that is, belongs 
to all alike); as, for example, the name dog belongs 
to every animal of that kind, or class, the world over. 
This makes common nouns a class-name — a name 
that belongs to all objects of the same class. * 

* Things that resemble each other are, when taken together. 



44 SOME SUB-CLASSES OF WOEDS. 

Proper* nouns are so called because they are own- 
names, or particular names of the persons or things 
that have them. 

To sum up the matter : 

A COMMON NOUN IS A GENEEAL NAME, A CLASS- 
NAME, A NATUEAL NAME. 

A PEOPEE NOUN IS A PAETICULAE NAME, AN OWN- 
NAME, A GIVEN NAME. 

If all the persons in the world that are named 
* c John " were assembled together, they would make 
a pretty large crowd ! and you would think that 
"John" was a pretty "common" Dame. You 
would think too that it might properly be called a 
"class " name, from the size of the classf that bore 
it. Bat in the grammatical sense of the term it 
could not be so called. It would not be a name 

called a class. Thus, boys and girls that resemble each 
other in studying language together are called The Language 
Class; those that resemble each other in studying spelling 
together are called The Spelling Class, and so on. Animals 
that resemble each other in a certain way are called dogs; so 
we say that dogs are a class of animals. Horses are another 
class of animals. Chairs are a class of furniture ; desks 
are another class of furniture. Maples are a class of trees; 
willows another class of trees ; and so on. 

* Latin, proprius, one's own. 

t That this multitude of " Johns " would constitute a class 
is plain, for they would resemble -each other in bearing the 
name of John. This example illustrates the objectionable- 
ness of the current definition of a common noun. 



SUENAMES. 45 

that any person would have on account of his nature, 
but because it was given him by somebody. 

When a chair comes from the factory, it does not 
require anybody to name it ; it names itself. Its at- 
tributes, its qualities, its nature name it. When a 
child is born, its nature tells us that it is a baby, but 
whether its particular name is to be ' ' John, " or 
"Mary," or "Sarah,*' or "James," is uncertain 
until the name is given to it. 

A COMMON NOUN IS A GENEEAL NAME, A CLASS-NAME, 
A NATUEAL NAME — A NAME COMMON TO ALL MEMBERS 
OF A CLASS OF THINGS. 

A PROPEE NOUN IS A PAETICULAE NAME, AN OWN- 
NAME, A GIVEN NAME — A NAME GIVEN TO ONE MEMBEE 
OF A CLASS OF THINGS TO DISTINGUISH IT FEOM THE 
BEST. 

A PEOPEE NOUN MUST ALWAYS BEGIN WITH A CAPI- 
TAL. 

2. Surnames. — Now-a-days everybody has at 
least a double name, as, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster; 
some have triple names as, John Quincy Adams, 
William Gullen Bryant ; and some have a still more 
extended name. The last word in every-one's name 
is, you know, the family name. It belongs to father, 
mother, brothers and sisters alike. The father, per- 
haps, is John Jones; the mother, Mary Jones; the 
brothers, Thomas Jones and William Jones; the sis- 
ters, Sarah Jones and Anna Jones. ' 'Jones, " in this 



4G SOME SUB-CLASSES OF WORDS. 

case, is the family name. * The family name is called 

the SURNAME. 

The family name is called the surname. 
Proper means one's own. 

3. Christian Names.— 'Every American child 
while very young has a particular name given to it, 
as Mary, Mary Ann, John, John Quincy : this is 
its giyen name, or owN-name. The giving of this 
name is, among christians, usually accompanied with 
baptism, and so it is sometimes called the baptismal 
name. As baptism is a christian ceremony, or cus- 
tom, it is called the christian name. 

One's given name is called one's christian name. 

4. Bays of the Week, etc a — The first day of 

the week has a particular name, ' f Sunday, " given 
to it to distinguish it from other days of the week ; 
and so the rest. The first month of the year has a 
particular name, " January, " given to it to distin- 
guish it from other months of the year ; and so the 
rest. Certain days of the year, set apart as holidays 
have particular names given to them to distinguish 
them from other days, as, Christmas, Fourth of July, 
etc. These names of the days of the week, of the 
months, and of holidays, are therefore proper nouns, 
and must begin with capitals. 

* The family name is properly a given name— given to all 
the members of the f amily by the present custom of society. 



a peactice-exebcise. 47 

The names of the days of the week, of the 
months and of holidays, but not of the seasons, 
abe pbopeb nouns. 

A common noun, when used as a proper name, 
or part of a proper name, becomes, by that use, a 
proper noun. Thus, in Hudson River, Rocky Moun- 
tains, Washington County, Main Street, Niagara 
Falls, the common nouns, river, mountains, county, 
street, and falls are changed to proper nouns by each 
becoming a part of a proper name, and must there- 
fore begin with a capital. 

In the same way adjectives, when they go to form 
proper names become proper nouns ; as, green, black, 
deep, in Green Mountains, Black (J reek and Deep 
River. 

5. A Practice- Exercise. 

1. Watee St. * — ' ' Water " and ' ' St. " are both of 
them usually common nouns, because they are 
natural names ; but in the present case they are 
both proper nouns, because they are parts of a given 
name. Being inseparable parts of a proper name 
they must both begin with the capital. 

2. Gulf of Mexico. — "Gulf" is usually a com- 
mon noun, because it is a natural name ; but in the 
present case it is a proper noun because it is part of 
a given name. ' ' Mexico " is a proper noun because 

*This shortened form (St.) for street is called an abbrevia- 
tion. It is explained in the next chapter, 



48 SOME SUB-CLASSES OF WOEDS. 

it is a given name. Its two important parts ' ' Gulf " 
and ' ' Mexico " must both begin with the capital. 

3. Lake Superior. "Lake" is usually a com- 
mon noun, because it is a natural name ; but in the 
present case it is a proper noun, because it is part 
of a given name. ' ' Superior " * is usually an ad- 
jective ; but in the present case it is a proper noun, 
because it is part of a given name. 

4. Alleghany Ms. "Alleghany" is a proper 
noun, because it is a given name. * ' Ms. " is usually 
a common noun, because it is a natural name ; but 
in the present case it is a proper noun, because it is 
part of a given name. 

6. The Verb. 

(a) Qo) 

1. bakees peespiee. f 1. bakers make . 

2. The beae sleeps. 2. The bear killed . 

3. Farmers work. 3. Farmees eaise . 

4. Postmen walk. 4. Postmen being . 

5. Children laugh. 5. Children break . 

6. Mary cried. 6. Mary likes . 

The expressions in list (a) are all perfect sen- 
tences. They are very short, but each one con- 
tains a subject and a predicate, and makes sense. 
They are complete. The expressions in list (#), 
however, are none of them sentences. Each one 

* Superior means higher, greater. 
t Read across the page. 



TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS. 49 

contains, like those in list (a), a noun and a verb, 
but they do not make sense. They are incomplete. 
To make sentences of them another word must be 
added. 

7. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs. 
— We learned in the preceding chapter that a verb 
generally declares, or asserts something about a 
noun or a pronoun. We have just seen that there 
are two kinds of verbs. * In one of these kinds, 
the verb makes a perfect assertion along with the 
subject, while in the other kind, the assertion is 
not perfect without the aid of at least one more 
word. 

In the sentence, John laughs, the assertion made 
by the verb begins and ends in John ; but in the 
sentence, John likes candy, the assertion made by 
the verb begins in John, but it ends in candy. 
Verbs of this latter kind are called transitive f 
verbs, and sentences that contain them are called 
transitive sentences. Verbs of the former 
kind are called intransitive J verbs, and sen- 
tences that contain them are called intransitive 
sentences. The added word, " candy," is called 

THE OBJECT. 

* You will learn by and by that there are other kinds also. 

t From a Latin word which means going over, as if the ac- 
tion of the verb went over in part from the subject to the 06- 
ject. 

% IiitrcaKsitive means not transitive. A 



50 some sub-classes of wobds. 

Transitive verbs are those that must have an 

OBJECT. 

Intransitive verbs are those that have no ob- 
ject. 

The object is the word added to a transitive 
verb to complete its meaning. 

8. How to tell them apart. — If yon should 
write, * * The horse runs away, " ' ' The boy eats/M, " 
or, ' ' Mary walked home, " as an example of a transi- 
tive sentence, it would be wrong. ' * Away, " ' ' fast " 
and "home " are not objects. The sentences make 
complete sense without them; thus: "The horse 
runs," "The boy eats," "Mary walked," and are 
therefore intransitive. You can always tell whether 
a word is the object of a verb, by observing whether 
it answers the question asked by putting "whom ? " 
or ' ' what ? " after the verb, thus : ' ' John shot a 
bird." "Bird "is here the object of "shot "be- 
cause it answers the question, ' ' John shot what ?" 
Again : ' l The teacher called Charles. " ' ' Charles '' 
is here the object of ' ' called " because it answers 
the question, "The teacher called whom?" 

But in the sentence, "The horse runs away," 
"away " does not answer the question, "The horse 
runs what?" It answers the question, "The horse 
runs 7ww?" So again in the sentence, "Mary 
walked home, " ' ' home " answers the question, 



A PEACTICE-EXEECISE, 51 

" Mary walked where?" and not the question, 
' ' Mary walked what f " 

The object is the woed that answees the ques- 
tion ASKED BY PUTTING whom OE what AETEE THE 
VEEB. 

9. A Practice- Exercise.— Select from the 
following list all the transitive verbs, and make 
transitive sentences with them ; then make intran- 
sitive sentences with the intransitive verbs. There 
are seven of each kind. 

gallop twinkle took rises keeps 
combs found swim rejoice sleep 
tied likes occur cover 

Observe that, in every intransitive sentence, the 
predicate consists of one word, viz. , the verb ; while 
in every transitive sentence the predicate consists of 
at least two words, viz. , the verb and its object. 

10. Verbs with a Hard Name.— 
I am well. We are here. 
Mary was absent. The boys were rude. 
Baby is happy. The pup feels lonesome. 
James became angry. Puss looks sick. 
Grandpa appears feeble. Bun seems frightened. 
In the above examples we see another kind of 
verb. They do not require an object like transitive 
verbs, nor is their meaning complete without another 



52 SOME SUB-CLASSES OF WOEDS. 

word, like most intransitive verbs. They are called 
by a long, hard name — intransitive verbs of incom- 
plete predication. There are only a few of them ; 
but they are very important, because they are in 
constant use. You will be apt to call them transi- 
tive verbs unless you give careful attention to what 
I have just told you about how to tell transitive and 
intransitive verbs apart. 

11. Some Curious Verbs.— There are some 
verbs that are either transitive or intransitive ac- 
cording to the way they are used. Read the follow- 
ing examples very carefully, in pairs, and notice 
how different is the meaning of the 7erb when used 
intransitively from what it is when used transitive- 
ly. Bead across the page. 

INTRANSITIVE SENTENCES. TRANSITIVE SENTENCES. 

1. Birds fly. 1. Boys fly kites. 

2. Men work. 2. Men icork machines. 

3. Charles walks. 3. Charles walks his horse. 

4. The leaves stir. 4, Mary stirs her tea. 

5. Baby chokes. 5. Baby chokes the kitten. 

6. Sarah wakes early. 6. Sarah wakes her sister. 

1. Grass grows. 1. The farmer grows wheat. 

8. The house shook. 8. My friend shook my hand. 

9. The newsboy runs. 9. Mr. Smith runs the hotel. 
10. Home fell. 10. Wood-choppers/eZZ trees. 

Notice that in No. 1, intransitive, it is birds (the 
subject) that fly ; while in No. 1, transitive, it is 
kites (the object) that fly, the subject, "boys," 



ADJECTIVES : THE ARTICLES. 53 

having nothing to do with the flying except to cause 
it to take place, as if it said, Boys make kites fly. 

So in No. 2, intransitive, it is men (the subject) 
that work ; while in No. 2, transitive, it is machines 
(the object) that work, the subject "men," having 
nothing to do with the working except to cause it to 
take place, as if it said, Men make machines work, 

12. Adjectives : the Articles. — If I 

should say to you, * ' I bought my shoes at an old 
store," you would be at a loss to know at what par- 
ticular place I bought them ; but if we both lived 
in a village where there was only one old store, or if 
there was a particular store which you and I knew 
about, and which we called ' ' the old store, " and if, 
under these circumstances, I should say to you, * * I 
bought my shoes at the old store, " you would under- 
stand exactly where I obtained them. 

Again : if I were to say to you, " I have caught 
an owl," you would not think of any particular owl, 
but only of the fact that I had caught some one owl. 
If I had said, " I have caught the owl," you would 
have understood a particular owl that we had before 
talked about, one that we had noticed flying about 
the premises, perhaps, and had not been able to 
catch. 

By these examples you see that there is a wide 
difference between " an " and "the ;" that " an " is 



54 SOME SUB-CLASSES OF WORDS. 

general, uncertain, indefinite, while " the " is par- 
ticular, precise, definite. 

An AND a ARE CALLED THE INDEFINITE ARTICLES ; 
the IS CALLED THE DEFINITE ARTICLE. 

All AND a ARE GENERAL, UNCERTAIN, INDEFINITE. 
The IS PARTICULAR, PRECISE, DEFINITE. 

13. The Indefinite Articles.— Take the 

expression, 

an ox. 

If we wished to describe the word "ox" a little, 
we might put the word patient before it ; we should 
then have the expression, 

a patient ox. 

If we wished to describe it further, we might intro- 
duce the word old; the phrase would then become, 
an old, patient ox. 

And if we wished to describe it still further, we 
might slip in the word fait7ifid, which would give 
us this : 

a faithful, old, patient ox. 

Have you observed something curious about the 
four gradually enlarging phrases ? When we added 
the word "patient" to the first phrase, "an" 
changed itself to "a, " and instead of "an ox, " we 
had the phrase, 

a PATIENT OX. 



THE INDEFINITE ARTICLES. 55 

Then, when we added " old," " a " changed back 
to "an," and we had the phrase, 

an OLD, PATIENT OX. 

And, finally, when we added "faithful," "an" 
changed to "a" again, and we had the phrase, 

a FAITHFUL, OLD, PATIENT OX. 

Observe that we did not propose to change " an " 
to " a, " or " a " to " an. " They changed themselves. 
Let us now try to find out why these little words 
behave so curiously. 

"We say a boy, an egg ; a plum, an orange ; a 
man, an ape ; a sparrow, an owl ; a lazy boy, an 
industrious girl ; a faithful pupil, an unfaithful 
pupil. In all these and every similar case " an " 
and "a" mean the same thing; they both mean 
one — one boy, one egg, one plum, and so on.* Then 
why not use one of them in all cases and drop the 
other? What need of both? Let us see. In the 
above examples suppose we change every "an" to 
" a " and every " a " to " an. " We shall then have 
an boy, a egg ; an plum, a orange ; an man, a ape ; 
an sparrow, a owl ; an lazy boy, a industrious girl ; 
an faithful pupil, a unfaithful pupil. 

What is the matter with the above phrases ? 

* The meaning of the indefmitive article a is shown in the 
expression, "The scholars are not all of a size," that is, all of 
one size. " An " and " a " both mean one. 



56 SOME SUB-CLASSES OF WOEDS. 

Simply this — they are not so easy to speak as the 
others ; they do not flow so smoothly from the 
mouth ; and that is just the reason why the others 
are used. ' ' An " and " a " mean the same thing ; 
nevertheless we never put one of them for the other. 

14. The Origin of the Word "A."—You 

doubtless laughed at the expressions ' ' an boy, " "an 
plum," "an man" in the preceding section, and you 
will be surprised to learn that they used to be cor- 
rect forms. That is the way our ancestors spoke, 
hundreds of years ago. "When the English language 
first began to take the form it now has, the article 
a did not exist. It crept into the language after- 
ward. People found it easier to say a book, than to 
say an book ; and so the "n" came gradually to be 
dropped from " an " before certain words, and that 
is just the way the word a was born. Perhaps you 
are wondering why it is easier to say a book than it 
is to say an book, or to say an apple, than it is to say 
A apple, I will tell you. 

In the phrase, a book, the consonant " b " stands 
next the vowel " a ; " and the sounds of these two 
letters blend, * or flow together smoothly. On the 
other hand, in the phrase, an book, the consonant 
" b " stands next another consonant "n ; " and the 
sounds of these two letters interfere with each other ; 

* Blend means to mix. 



THE DEFINITE ARTICLE. 57 

they do not blend easily ; and that is what we mean 
when we say that one of these forms is more easily 
spoken than the other is. Thus we get the follow- 
ing rule : 

Use an before a vowel-sound, and a before 
a consonant-sound.* 

Remember that the articles are a kind of ad- 
jective. 

15. The Definite Article. 

The brave fireman | saved a child. 

In the above example, the definite article which 

begins the sentence points out that some particular 

fireman is meant — one previously spoken of. The 

sentence is very nearly equivalent to the following : 

That brave fireman saved a child. 

In fact the word "the " is formed from the ad- 
jective that, as "a " is formed from "an." 

The definite article the is another form of 
-the adjective that. 

16. Proper Adjectives. 

1 . the American flag 

* Observe the rule says, "Use 'an' before a vowel-sound 
and 'a' before a consonant-soimcZ . " It does not say, "Use 
' an before a vowel, and ' a ' before a consonant. " Notice the 
reason. We say a horse, but not a hour, though " horse " 
and " hour " both begin with the same consonant h. But 
the first sound in " hour " is a voivel-soxmd, the h being silent. 
So we must say an hour, according to the rule, " Use an be- 
fore a vowel-sound. w i 



58 SOME SUB-CLASSES OF WORDS, 

2. a Chinese lantern 

3. some Turkish prunes 

4. these English walnuts 

In each of the above phrases, the second word is 
an adjective, because it describes the noun follow- 
ing it. Why do all these adjectives begin with 
capitals, like proper nouns ? Because they are pro- 
per adjectives. They are formed from proper 
nouns ; and, like proper nouns, must begin with 
the capital. 

Adjectives formed feom proper nouns are 
called proper adjectives. they must begin with 
the capital. 



A Bird's-Eye View. 
17. Let us now collect together in a general way 
the most important things we have learned thus far 
in this book : 

1. Language is the way we have of communicat- 
ing our thoughts to one another. 

2. All languages are made up of separate words. 
Tn most languages these words are made up of let- 
ters, which taken together are called the alphabet. 

3. In the English language there are 26 letters, 
and upwards of 100,000 words. 

4. These words are divided into eight classes, 
called parts of speech, viz., noun, verb, pronoun, 



a bibd's-eye view. 59 

adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, and 
interjection. 

5. Of these, the noun stands first, because every 
object must have a name to begin with. 

6. The next is the vebb — the only word that can- 
not be dispensed with* in the sentence. 

7. Then comes the peonoun, which stands for a 
noun, as a substitute, when it would be awkward 
for the noun to appear. 

8. Next comes the adjective, a word that goes 
with the noun, generally to describe it. 

9. Then follows the adverb, a word that usually 
goes with the verb, serving it about as the adjective 
serves the noun. 

10. The list is completed with the preposition, 
which shows certain relationships between words ; 
the nconjunction, which connects words ; and the 
interjection, which is thrown in among other words, 
as it were, to express sudden feeling. 

18. As to size these eight classes differ widely : 

Nouns : there are, or may be, as many as there 
are different kinds of objects in the world — thou- 
sands and thousands. 

Veebs : there are thousands. 

Pbonouns : there are about fifty, f 

* To dispense with a thing is to do without it. 
t Or nearly a hundred, if such words as each, some, any, 
few, etc., are included. 



60 SOME SUB-CLASSES OF WOEDS. 

Adjectives : there are thousands. 

Adyebbs : there are thousands. 

Prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections ; 
there are not far from fifty each. 

Nearly all the words in the language belong to 
the following four classes : 

noun verb adjective adverb 

Only two or three hundred words belong to the 
other four classes, viz., pronoun, preposition, con- 
junction, and interjection. 

19. Sentences are like blocks of granite ; the 
grand structure of language is built of them. The 
sentence is a thought put into words. 

In order to think, we must have something to 
thing about, or a subject. Then we must think 
about that subject ; and this thinking gives us the 
predicate ; and these two things united — subject 
and predicate — give us the sentence ; and sentences, 
put properly together, make a language. 

To teach you first how to shape the blocks, and 
then how to build them together proiDerly for the 
construction of the beautiful Temple of Language, 
is the object of the study which this little book opens 
to you. 



ABBREVIATIONS. 61 

CHAPTER V. 

ABBREVIATIONS AND PUNCTUATION. 

1. Abbreviations, — In printing and writing 
some words are often shortened for the sake of con- 
venience. President Lincoln used to sign his name 
" A. Lincoln." It would have taken him twice as 
long to write it in full ; and this saved him quite a 
good deal of valuable time in the course of his very- 
useful life, for he had to put his signature to a 
great many papers. This practice of shortening 
their names is very common among business people, 
to whom i ' time is money. " In the same way the 
names ef places are shortened, as N Y. for New 
York, N. J. for New Jersey, 0. for Ohio, TJ. S. A. 
for The United States of America, etc. 

Observe that whenever one letter (the first, or 
initial letter) is used for a proper name, a 'period 
follows it. Of course the letter must always be a 
capital, because it is the initial of a proper name. 

The shortening of words is called abbrevia- 
tion.* 

* Abbreviate (Latin brevis, short) means to make brief, 
or, to shorten. 



62 ABBKEVIATIONS AND PUNCTUATION. 

2. IIoiv to Abbreviate. — When you send a 
letter to Massachusetts you abbreviate the name of 
the state in directing the letter, but not by simply 
writing the initial 31. That would not be under- 
stood, and your letter might go to Missouri or Maine. 
If you abbreviate, you must write Mass. The abbre- 
viation of Connecticut is Conn., and so on. 

If you were to receive a letter from a stranger 
with the signature "J. Wirt," you could not tell 
what the christian name was — it might be John or 
Jane or James or Julia ; and yet ' ' J. Wirt " would 
be enough, if you did not care to know his (or her) 
christian name, or if it was not important for you 
to know it. 

A great many words are abbreviated. Not a 
little time is saved in this way to both writer and 
reader. 

There are three ways of abbreviating : 

1. By omitting more or less of the first part of the 
word, as, TU for I icill, we've for we have. 

2. By omitting more or less of the last part of the 
word, as, J. for John, Prof, for Professor. 

3. By omitting more or less of the middle part of 
the word, as, St. for Saint, Dr. for Doctor. 

Abbreviations are marked, or denoted by a period 
at the end, or by a comma over the place where the 
omission occurs, as, rec'd for received, Wt for bought, 



PUNCTUATION. 63 

tM for though* This comma has a hard name : it 
is called an aposteophe. * 

Abbreviations aee denoted by a pebiod at the 
end, ob by an apostbophe oveb the place whebe 
the omission occubs. f 

3. Punctuation. — Yon have no donbt learned 
already that the period, the comma, etc. , which you 
constantly meet in reading, are called punctuation- 
marks. Suppose you should find a book printed in 
this way : 

Howfaroffdoyouthinkthesunishowlongdoyouthink 
itwouldtakeyoutogotbereifyoucouldgobyrailaboysaid 
hegues seditwouldtakeayearandt herestof thecbildren 
thoughthemeantitasajokeandtheyalllaugbedoutbutit 
wouldtakeagr eatde allongerthanthatitwouldtake 500 
years. 

You would think such a book an amusing curi- 
osity. So it would be now-a-days. But long ago 
— ages before printing was invented — people wrote 
just in that way, without separating words or sen- 
tences, or using any punctuation-marks at all. "Why 
is not this style just as good as any ? You say, be- 
cause you can't understand it so well. Yes, that is 
the reason. The separation of words, use of capitals, 
and punctuation are simply to help you understand 

* Apostrophe means turned away. 

t Some abbreviations are denoted in either way, as, bros, 
and bro's for brothers. 



64 ABBBEVIATIONS AND PUNCTUATION. 

what is written or printed. When you speak, the 
tones of your voice usually make your meaning 
plain. Let some pupil read the preceding paragraph 
all in the same tone of voice, paying no attention to 
punctuation or emphasis, just as little children are 
apt to do when they are first learning to read ; and 
then let another pupil read it with proper pauses 
and emphasis, and you will see how much better 
you understand what is said naturally. 

Besides this, the meaning of a passage may be 
changed entirely by the way it is punctuated. See 
how absurd this is : He walked in his hat. Under 
his arm he wore a queer-looking pair of old shoes. 

Now read it when correctly punctuated : He walked 
in, his hat under his arm. He wore a queer-looking 
pair of old shoes. 

You see by these examples how important a mat- 
ter punctuation is. 

Punctuation is the separating of words by 
mabks, so as to make the meaning plaineb. 

4. The Comma ; Words in a Series.— 
You have already learned how to use the period (. ), 
the interrogation-mark (?), and the exclamation- 
mark (!). I will now tell you a little about the 
comma (,). 

Let us build up sentences by gradual additions, 
thus : 

1. Here are figs for you. 



PUNCTUATION. 65 

2. Here are figs and dates for you. 

3. Here are figs and dates and raisins for you. 

4. Here are figs and dates and raisins and oranges 
for you. 

In practice, such sentences as the third and fourth 
of the above are shortened by omitting all the con- 
junctions except the last, and putting in commas 
instead, thus : 

Here are figs, dates, raisins and oranges for you. * 

When theee is a series oe words, all used in 
the same way, they must be separated from one 
another by the comma, except where there is a 
conjunction. * 

But when there are only two words used in the 
same way, as " rabbits " and "moles " is this sen- 
tence, Rabbits and moles burrow in the ground, no 
comma is used. 

Words in pairs, connected by and, must not 

BE SEPARATED BY THE COMMA. 

So when or is the connective there is usually no 
comma ; as, You may have a peach or an applet 
Words in pairs, connected by or, must not 

USUALLY BE SEPARATED BY THE COMMA, f 

* The comma is often used between the last two words of 
a series, along with the conjunction, as, Here are jigs, 
dates ; raisins, and oranges for you. 

t When both words refer to the same thing, one being ex- 
planatory of the other, the comma is used : as, water is 
changed by heat into steam, or vapor. 



66 ABBREVIATIONS AND PUNCTUATION. 

5. The Comma; Spofcen to by Name. 

— When any person or thing is spoken to by name, * 
the name along with its adjuncts, if it has any, 
must be separated from the rest of the sentence by 
the comma : as, 

John, please shut the door. What did you say, 
Mary ? Sit still, good Dolly, while I am gone. 

When a person or thing is spoken to by name, 
the name along with its adjuncts, if it has any, 
must be separated fkom the rest oe the sentence 
by the comma. 

6. A Practice- Exercise. 

1. What did you say, Mary? "Mary" being 
spoken to by name, her name must have a comma 
before it, to separate it from the rest of the sen- 
tence. The sentence being a question, there must 
be an interrogation-mark at the end. 

2. Sit still, good Dolly, while I am gone. The 
1 ' Dolly " being spoken to by name, its name along 
with its adjunct ' ' good " (that is, the phrase, * ' good 
Dolly ") must have a comma before it and one after 
it, to separate it from the rest of the sentence. 
The sentence being imperative there must be a 
period at the end. 

* Tne name may be either common or proper. 



THE APOSTBOPHE AND S. 67 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE SIGN >S; OR, BELONGING TO. 



1. The Apostrophe and s. 

My dog's nose is always cold. 
My dogs will do some tricks. 

In the above examples, the second word is nearly 
the same in both, but not quite. Observe the dif- 
ference between them. Except for the little comma 
that separates the g from the s in the first example, 
they would be exactly alike ; but their meaning is 
very different, as you see. That little comma is a 
very important thing. It is an apostrophe, as you 
learned to call it in Chapter V, Sectieon 2 — an ab- 
breviation-mark. * This apostrophe and the s toge- 
ther signifyf belonging to. The expression "my 
dog's nose," is equivalent}: to the expression the 
nose belonging to my dog. 

* The word " clog's " is a shortened form of the old English 
word doges. In the same way we have " pig's " for piges, 
"cat's "for cates, "hat's" for hates, and so on. 

t Or, mean. 

t Equi Talent here signifies, having the same meaning. 



68 the sign s ; oe, belonging- to. 

The aposteophe and s ('s) joined to a woed sig- 
nify BELONGING TO. 

. 2. "Of," or, "Belonging £o. "-The phrase, 
a cat's paws, is equivalent, as we saw in the preceding 
section, to the phrase, the paws belonging to a 
cat. It is also equivalent to the phrase, 
the paws of a cat. 

Of means belonging to. 

The sign ( 5 s) means of, oe belonging to. 

3. Another Sign that Means "Of," or, 
"Belonging to." — What do yon think of these 

phrases ? 

rate's tails boys's hats girls's books 

Pronounce them aloud and you will see at once that 
they are wrong. We do not say " ratses tails," 
" boyses hats, " etc. , hut " rats' tails, " " boys' hats, " 
etc. Thus you see the sign that means of, or be- 
longing to y sometimes goes without the s, and is 
simply this ('). 

The sign ('«), oe simply ('), means of oe belong- 
ing to. 

4. The Reason Why.— These two phrases, a 
ship("s) deck, and deck (of) a ship, are, we have 
seen, equivalent. One of them has the apostrophe 
and s, while the other has the word of. The phrase 
that Las of tells us what the word is which must be 



THE APOSTROPHE AND S. 69 

apostrophized* when we turn the phrase into its 
equivalent. Thus in the phrase, deck (of) a ship, 
" ship " is the word we must apostrophize when we 
turn the phrase into its equivalent, a ship('s) deck. 
In doing this, we are simply restoring the lost of in 
another form. 

Try again : take the phrase, incorrectly written, 
mens hats. Are you in doubt whether to write it 
men's hats, or mens' hats ? Let us see. Turning 
it into its equivalent with of hats of men, we dis- 
cover that ' ' men " is the word to be apostrophized. 
Restoring to it the lost of in the form of the equi- 
valent ('s), we have the phrase, men's hats. Thus 
we see that in the expressions, 

1. men('s) hats 2. hats (of) men 
the two forms 's and of are interchangeable! and 
equivalent. When the one disappears, the other ap- 
pears in its place. 

Once more : take the phrase, incorrectly written, 
girls sports. In which of the following two ways 
should we write it ? 

girl's sports girls' sports 

Turning it into its equivalent, sports of girls, we 
discover that ' ' girls " is the word to be apostro- 

* To apostrophize a word is to mark it with an apostro- 
phe. 

t Interchangeable means that may be exchanged, one 
for the other. 



70 NUMBER. 

phized. Adding the apostrophe alone, which is the 
equivalent of of in this case, we have girls('). The 
extra s is omitted, because it would not sound well 
to say "girls's (girlses) sports." Thus we have the 
correct expression, girls' sports. 

We have now learned that 

The apostrophe is always placed at the end of 
the word that is to be apostrophized, and the 
added s (when used) is always placed after the 
apostrophe. 



CHAPTER VII. 



NUMBER. 



1. Singular and Plural.— Words that 
mean but one thing are said to be of the singular 
number, as, cat; words that mean more than one 
thing are said to be of the plural number, as, cats. 

Most nouns form the plural by adding s to the 
singular ; as, dog, clogs. 

There is usually no increase of syllables in forming 
the plural ; thus, dog, dogs (both monosyllables), 
eagle, eagles (both dissyllables), and so on. But 
many words form the plural by adding es to the sin- 
gidar, and thus usually get another syllable; as, class, 
classes ; bush, buslies ; box, boxes. 



HOW THE PLUEAL OF NOUNS IS FOEMED. 



71 



Some nouns foem the plueal by adding es to 

THE SINGULAE ; AS, f0X t f0XC8. 

2. Puzzling Forms. — Consider these tables : 
Plubals in ies. 



Sing. 


Plur. 


Sing. 


Plur. 


tabby 


TABBIES 


AKMY 


ABMIES 


PIEACY 


PIBACIES 


PONY 


PONIES 


LADY 


LADIES 


BEBKY 


BEEEIES 


COOKY 


COOKIES 


DAISY 


DAISIES 


LILY 


LILIES 


NAVY 


NAVIES 




Plueal 


5 in eys. 




Sing. 


Plur. 


Sing. 


Plur. 


KEY 


KEYS 


ALLEY 


ALLEYS 


TUEKEY 


TUBKEYS 


VALLEY 


VALLEYS 


MONKEY 


MONKEYS 


MONEY 


MONEYS 


DONKEY 


DONKEYS 


CHIMNEY 


CHIMNEYS 


JOCKEY 


JOCKEYS 


ATTOBNEY ATTOENEYS 



Observe that all of the above nouns end in y in the 
singular, but they form their plurals in two differ- 
ent ways. All in the first list form the plural by 
changing y to i, and adding es. All in the second 
list form the plural by simply adding s. Observe 
the two lists closely, and try to find out why this is 
so. If you cannot, I will tell you. 

3. Hotv the Plural of Nouns is Form- 
ed, — First notice that every word of the second 



72 NUMBER. 

list ends in ey while not one of the first list ends in 
ey. They end in by, cy, dy, ky, ly, my, ny, ry, sy, 
andvy. That is, they all end in y, with one of the 
following letters before it : b, c, d, k, I, m, n 3 r, s, v. 
You remember, I trust, that the letters of the al- 
phabet are arranged in two elasses, vowels and eon- 
sonants— the vowels being a, e, i, o, v, and some- 
times w and y ; while the rest are consonants. The 
above ten letters, then, b, c, d, cic. , are aU conson- 
ants. Thus we get the following rules : 

Nouns ending in ey fobm the plueal by adding 
s; as, key, keys.* 

Nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant! 

POEM THE PLUEAL BY CHANGING y TO l AND ADDING CS / 

as, baby, babies. 

4. Some Other Plurals. — Some nouns end- 
ing IN / OE fe CHANGE fTOV FOE THE PLUEAL ; AS, 

wolf, wolves. 

* To tlie Teaclier.— This rule would be much more 
comi^reheusive if made to cover such words as day, boy, etc. 
It would then read ; Nouns ending in y preceded by a vowel 
form the plural by adding s. But as children have no diffi- 
culty in forming the plurals of day, boy, etc., and are per- 
plexed by turkey, cherry, and the like, it seems best for the 
present to give them the above short rule for words in ey. 
Rules that are similar in phraseology are liable to 

BE CONFOUNDED. 

it Preceded by a consonant means having a conso- 
nant standing before it. 



SINGULAR AND PLURAL IN VERBS. 73 

Some nouns ending in/ or fe retain the /in the 
plural ; as, chief, chiefs. 

Nearly all nouns have tlieir plurals in s. There 
are a few that have not, and for this reason are said 
to form their plurals irregularly* ; as, man, men ; 
ox, oxen ; foot, feet ; mouse, mice. 

A few nouns are the same in the singular and the 
plural ; as, sheep, salmon, snipe, shad, etc. Thus we 
say, a wolf killed a sheep ; a wolf killed ten sheep. 
I caught a salmon ; I caught a hundred salmon. 

Some nouns, from the nature of tlieir meanings, 
have no plural ; as, pork, molasses, anger, music, 
darkness, etc. 

A few nouns are used iu the plural only ; as, oats, 
clothes, victuals, scissors, etc. 

5. Singular and Plural in Verbs. 
The squirrel eats nuts. 
The squirrels eat nuts. 
\\Je have seen that most nouns change their forms 
a little when they pass from singular to plural ; 
that is to say, they change their spelling. Verbs 
sometimes behave somewhat in the same way. .Thus 
we have : 



For the Noun. 

SING. PLUR. 

squirrel squirrels 



For the Verb. 

SING. PLUR. 

eats eat 



* Irregular means not in the usual way. 



74 NUMBER. 

But observe a curious thing : while the noun has an 
added s in the plural, the verb has an added s in the 
singular. Thus we say : 

The squirrels eat. (Plural). 
The squirrel eats. (Singular). 

When we speak of a verb being singular or plural, 
we do not mean the same as when we speak of a 
noun being singular or plural. In the c.ise of a 
noun, its form shows whether it is itself singular or 
plural ; but in the case of a verb, its form can only 
show whether its subject is singular or plural.* In 
other words when a noun, the subject of a sentence, 
passes from singular to plural, or from plural to sin- 
gular, and so changes its form, the predicate verb 
sometimes changes its form also. There is a kind 
of agreement between them. The verb may be 
said to obey the nouD. When the noun, by passing 
from plural to singular, loses an s, the verb some- 
times gains one. When the noun, by passing from 
singular to plural, gains an s, the verb sometimes 
loses one. As if the noun, when it has no use for 
the s, handed it over to the verb ; and as if the 
verb, when the noun wants the s again, handed it 
back. Thus, 



* The idea of unity or plurality (that is to say, the idea of 
number) does not belong to a verb. Neither does the verb's 
form always show the number of the subject. 



SINGULAR AND PLURAL IN VERBS. 75 

The horse trots. (Sing.) 
The horse s trot, (Plur.) 

In the first sentence, the little floating letter, not 
being needed by the subject, goes to the verb. In 
the second sentence, being now needed by the sub- 
ject, it goes back to the subject, as it were. This 
curious process is fully shown in the following sen- 
tences. 

Read them carefully, filling the blanks as you go 
along. 

SING. PLUR. 

The bird sing s. The bird s sing. 

The girl play s. The girl s play. 

The boy skate s. The boy s — . 

The swallow — . The swallow s fly. 

The fish — . The fish es — . 

The dog — . The dog s — . 

Important Exception : — When I or you is the 
subject of a sentence the verb behaves differently. 
Thus we say, 

I eat ; You eat ; not, I eats ; You eats. 
6. Verbs sometimes change their forms for sin- 
gular and plural, in obedience to their noun-subjects, 
in the same way as nouns do ; thus, 
Usually, by adding s ; as, 
(Verbs.) eat, eats ; run, runs. 
(Nouns.) girl, girls ; boy, boys. 



76 NUMBER. 

Sometimes by adding es ; as, 
(Verbs. ) go, goes ; do, does. 
(Norms.) potato, potatoes ; motto, mottoes. 

Sometimes by changing y to i, and adding es ; as, 
(Verbs.) try, tries; dry, dries, 
(Nouns.) city 9 cities; butterfly, butterflies. 

And sometimes a different word is used ; as, 

(Verbs.) Sing., is, was, has ; Plur., are, were, 
have. 

(Nouns.) Sing., mouse, foot, man; Plur., 
mice, feet, men. 

Verbs sometimes change their forms for sin- 
gular AND PLURAL AS NOUNS DO ; BUT THE SINGULAR 
OF THE VERB CORRESPONDS TO THE PLURAL OF THE 
NOUN. 

7. Is, Are; Has, Have; Was, Were. 

John is well ; Mary is well ; John and Mary 
are well. 

Joe has mumps ; Rae has mumps ; Joe andltae 
have in amps. 

Jake wasiU ; Tilly was ill.; Jake and Tilly were 
ill. 

Observe in the above examples the following irre- 
gular forms : sing. , is, plur. , are ; sing. , has, plur. , 
have ; sing., was, plur., were. 

Is, has, and was are singular forms. 

Are, have, and were are plural forms. 



DEGREES OF COMPARISON.- 77 



CHAPTEE VIII. 



DEGREES OF COMPARISON. 



1. The Three Degrees. — When we say, 
1. Carlo is a kind dog, 

we describe Carlo somewhat by the adjective 
"kind ;" we tell of a quality which he has. Now 
suppose we wish to compare Carlo with another dog, 
Beppo, in respect to this quality of kindness ; we 
might say, 

2. Beppo is a kinder dog than Carlo is ; 

meaning that Beppo has more of the quality of 
kindness than Carlo has. Suppose, again, we wish 
to compare these two dogs with a third dog, Towser, 
in respect to this quality of kindness ; we might 
say, 

3. Towser is the kindest dog of all ; 
meaning by this that Towser has more of the quality 
of kindness than either Beppo or Carlo has. 

By these three statements (1, 2, 3,) we learn 
that, 

1. All three dogs have some of this quality of 
kindness. 

2. They do not all have it alike, or, in the same 
degree. 



/ O DEGEEES OF COMPAEISON. 

3. Towser has it in the highest degree ; Beppolias 
it in a higher degree than Carlo ; and Carlo has it 
in the lowest degree. Carlo ft kind, Beppo is kindee, 
Towser is kindest. 

These three adjectives, kind, kindee, kindest, 
express three degrees of compaeison. These de- 
grees we get by comparing one thing with another, 
or with others. We say in a general way that ad- 
jectives have three degrees of comparison. The 
lowest degree is called the positive ; the next is 
called the comparative ; and the highest is called 

the SUPEELATIVE I til US, 

POSITIVE COMPARATIVE SUPERLATIVE 

kind kinder kindest 

Adjectives have theee degeees of compaeison, 
viz. , positive, comparative, and superlative. 
2. Incorrect Use of the Superlative. 

Suppose you were comparing the dogs, Carlo and 
Beppo, in respect to the quality of kindness, and 
should say beppo is the kindest. This expression 
would be incorrect. Do you see why ? Let us look at 
it. ' ' Kindest " is the superlative ; but there cannot be 
a superlative without a comparative and a positive. 
The superlative is the highest of three at least. 
When therefore you are comparing only two per- 
sons or things together, one of them must be posi- 
tive, and the other comparative. You should have 

Said, BEPPO IS THE KINDER. 



"er" and "est." 79 

The siperlative form must not be used when 
only two things are compared. * 

3. "Er" and " Est."— The comparative 
arid superlative degrees are formed from tlie posi- 
tive in various ways. Adjectives of one syllable, 
and many of two syllables, form the comparative 
by adding er to the positive ; and form the super- 
lative by adding est to the positive ; thus, 

positive comparative superlative 
kind kind er kind est 

sweet sweet er sweet est 

quiet quiet er quiet est 

When you state an adjective's three degrees of 
comparison, you are said to compare it. f 

Many adjectives form the comparative and 
superlative ry adding er and est to the positive. 

4. "More" and "Most."— It would not 
sound well to say, interesting er, interesting est ; ig- 
norant er, ignorant est ; splendid er, splendid est. 

Instead of using these awkward words, we say : 

* Exception : The words first and last, though superlative, 
are often used without reference to the number of things 
spoken of. Thus in a race between two, we say one conies 
in first, the other last. 

t Some adjectives cannot be compared, as is evident from 
their meaning; as, infinite, equal,parallel, daily, weekly, dead, 
live, perfect, one, two, first, second, some, any, all, this, that, 
single, double, etc. 



80 DEGEEES OF COMPARISON. 

more interesting most interesting 

more ignorant most ignorant 

more splendid most splendid 

Nearly all adjectives of more than two syllables, 
and many others besides, form the comparative and 
superlative by adding more and most, instead of er 
and est, to the positive. 

Many adjectives form the comparative and 

SUPERLATIVE BY ADDING more AND ITlOSt TO THE POSI- 
TIVE. 

5. Irregular Comparison.— -You would 
laugh to hear any one say, good, gooder, goodest ; 
bad, badder, baddest. The adjectives good and bad 
should be "compared," good, better, best; bad, 
worse, worst. Observe in these forms that the 
comparative and superlative are entirely different 
from the positive. ' ' Good " and ' ' better " have no 
two letters the same. Forms of comparison like 
these are called irregular. The following are the 
most important irregular comparisons. 



POS. 


COMP. 


SUPER. 


good 


better 


best 


well 


better 


best 


bad 


worse 


worst 


many 


more 


most 


much 


more 


most 


little 


less 


least 



COMPARISON OF ADVERBS. 81 



far 


farther, 




farthest, 




or further 


or furthest 


late 


later, 




latest, 




or latter 




or last 


old 


older, 




oldest, 




or elder 




or eldest 


A FEW ADJECTIVES FORM 


THE 


COMPARATIVE AND 


SUPERLATIVE 


IRREGULARLY. 







6. Comparison of Adverbs. — Some ad- 
verbs are compared. Their forms of comparison 
are like those of adjectives ; as, 

POSITIVE. COMPARATIVE. SUPERLATIVE. 

soon soon er soon est 

swiftly more swiftly most swiftly 

Some adverbs are compared ; their forms of 
comparison are like those of adjectives. 



CHAPTER IX. 

LETTER-WRITING, QUOTATIONS, ETC. 

1. The Parts of a iefter.— Examine care- 
fully the following model of a letter. Notice parti- 
cularly where each part is placed. 



82 LETTEK-WBITING, QUOTATIONS, ETC. 

New Orleans, La., Mar. 1, 1890. 
My dear Teacher : 

The orange-trees are in bloom now, and their 
perfume fills the air. I am going to send you some 
blossoms, though I am afraid they will wither, and 
their beauty and sweetness be gone before they 
reach you ; nevertheless they will bear my love to 
you just the same. 

The weather here is delightfully warm, compared 
with your icy season. Don't you wish you were 
here ? I do, for I long to see you. 

Your loving pupil, 

Mary Cabot Irving. 
Miss Josephine Thompson, 
Springfield, Mass. 

1. The first part in the above model, on the first 
line at the right, is the heading. It tells where and 
when the letter was written. 

2. The words, " My dear Teacher," are the salu- 
tation. This a formal* phrase of politeness which 
you begin with. It corresponds to the bow of re- 
spect when one meets an acquaintance, or the 
friendly shaking of hands. 

3. Then follows the message; which is closed by 

4. The subsckiption. f This includes, first, a 

* Formal means regular, fixed by custom. 
t Subscription means written under. 



THE PARTS OF A LETTER. 83 

formal phrase of respect or regard, and secondly, 
the writer's signature. * 

5. The words, " Miss Josephine Thompson, 
Springfield, Mass." are the address. In business 
letters it is customary to unite the address with the 
salutation. 

To state it briefly : the heading tells where and 
when the letter was written ; the salutation is a 
formal phrase of politeness at the beginning of the 
letter ; the subscription is the writer's signature, 
along with a formal phrase of respect or regard ; 
and the address is the name of the person to whom 
the letter is written, including, sometimes, his or 
her place of residence, or, business. The body of 
the letter is called the message. 

Besides these five parts, there are the postscript! 
(P. S. ) and the superscription. % The postscript is 
an afterthought — something added after the letter 
has been signed. The superscription is the direc- 
tion on the outside of the letter. 

In addressing your father, mother, teacher, etc., 
the word of address which you use is a title, and 
must always begin with a capital ; thus, 

My dear Mother My dear Friend 

* Signature means a person's name written by himself. 

t Postscript means written after. 

% Superscription means written on top of. 



84 LETTER-WRITING, QUOTATIONS, ETC. 

When you are not speaking to your father, mother, 
etc., but only speaking of them, these names are 
not titles, and must not begin with capitals. Thus 
you say : 

My pussy is offended. 

Are you offended, Pussy 1 

2. Quotations. — 

1. The spider said to the fly, " Will you come 
into my parlor V 9 

2. The spider asked the fly if he would come 
into her parlor. 

In the first of the above sentences, the exact 
words which the spider spoke to the fly are repeated, 
while in the second sentence, only the substance* of 
the invitation is stated. When in writing, you re- 
peat (or quote) the exact words of au other person 
(or of yourself on some previous occasion), you must 
use quotation-marks at the beginning, and end of the 
passage ; thus, ' ' Will you come into my 'parlor ?" 

Observe that the last two marks are commas, and 
the first are commas turned upside down. 

3. How to Divide Words ; the Hyphen. 

— If I should take hold of your arm and try to bend 
it where there was no joint, you would probably 
laugh at me. But children often treat words that 
* The substance of a remark is its general meaning. 



HOW TO DIVIDE WORDS ; THE HYPHEN. 85 

way when writing compositions. For example, if 
they happen to be writing the word school at 
the end of a line, and there is not room enough 
for the whole word, they will sometimes write 
part of it on one line and carry the end 
of it to the next line ; thus, . . . sch 
ool. This is wrong. When I am carving a fowl, 
I separate the parts at the joints ; and that is the 
way words must be treated. 

Words of one syllable have no joint and cannot 
be divided ; words of two syllables have one joint ; 
words of three syllables have two joints, and so on ; 
as, 

school scliol ar scliol ar ship 

You see what I mean by joints ; they are the 
places where the parts (or syllables) are joined. 
Whenever you are writing, and it is necessary for 
you to divide a word, imagine yourself carving a 
chicken, and cut for the joint. When a word is di- 
vided in this way, attach a short line to the part you 
write first, thus, schol-arship or scholar-ship. 
This line is called a hyphen, and shows that the 
word is unfinished. 



86 Elementary Language-Book. 

Continued from page 4, 
author has sought to apply the new method to tha 
study of the English language. The work is de- 
signed for beginners, children of the age of eight to 
twelve. It presents the language as an actual, con- 
crete thing, as if it were some product of nature, to 
be touched, handled, turned round and finally cut 
into parts so that its inner structure may be ob- 
served. The result is that in place of the dry and 
forbidding collection of grammatical rules and pro- 
cesses which is ordinarily placed in the hands of 
beginners in English, we have a vital and captivating 
study, quickening to the intelligence and fruitful in 
results. Mr. Lockwood's book must be distinguished 
from those watery dilutions of grammatical abstrac- 
tions which have been multiplied of late years and 
are supposed to adapt them to the comprehension 
of infant minds. He does not talk down to his 
pupils, nor does he shun the employment of the 
technical nomenclature of the grammars, when he 
is satisfied that the pupil is prepared to understand 
it. His method is virile aud scientific. The work 
is designed for and well adapted to class-room use 
in the hands of the pupils, but it will serve its best 
purpose in the hands of the teacher as a guide in 
that oral instruction to which the first steps in the 
study of English should be limited. 



" What a luxury such a book would have 
been to me in my childhood ! " 

K. Demill, Esq., Brooklyn, N. Y., in a notice of 
the author's 6 * Elementary Language-Book 
in Graded Lessons ; or, Learning to 
Make English." 



" The work is a valuable contribution to 
text-book literature." 

From an editorial in the Waterbury (Conn.) 
Republican, noticing the author's " Elementary 
Language-Book in Graded Lessons ; or. 
Learning to Make English." 



" The work is designed for beginners, 
children of the age of eight to twelve. It 
presents the language as an actual, concrete 
thing, as if it were some product of nature, 
to be touched, handled, turned round and 
finally cut into parts so that its inner struc- 
ture may be observed. The result is that 
in place of the dry and forbidding collec- 
tion of grammatical rules and processes 
which is ordinarily placed in the hands of 
beginners in English, we have a vital and 
captivating study, quickening to the intelli- 
gence and fruitful in results. . . . (The 
author's} method is virile and scientific." 

From the New- York Home Journal, in a notice 
of the author's " Elementary Language - 
Book in Graded Lessons ; or, Learning to 
Make English." 



i| w j LOCKWOOD'S | ka,. 

| Elementary Language-Boo 

.IN GRADED LESSONS; 

OR, 

i 

196 pages, 12ino ; cloth. 50 cents. 



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€3?" 'Bead complimentary notices I nside* 




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FOR THE USE OF 

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AND OF 

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